Count To Four
by Tesvyn
Summary: Harry always knew he was different, he just had to count to four to prove it. [Part 1 of The Master (of Death)]
1. Chapter 1

Harry Potter had known since he was very young, since before the cupboard, before the hate, and before the hurt, that he was _different_.

It wasn't the fact that he knew things that he_ shouldn't_, and it wasn't the fact that he learnt much faster than what should be normal.

It wasn't even the fact that he remembered. Not always, only sometimes and _never_ for more than 5 minutes.

Remembered, a smile, _his_ laugh, bright eyes-

Then forgetting until something reminded him-

No, it was the fact that the first thing he learnt, was to count to four.

It was the pounding in his head, the one that left him with spitting headaches, and a want to cry out for something, _someone_.

It was the, _one, two, three, four_, that he came to recognise as himself.

Yes, Harry Potter knew he was different.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry wasn't as surprised as he should have been when Hagrid told him about his heritage.

Truth be told, he'd kind of figured it out, a few incidents sprang to mind. Once when he'd been on the playground running from his overweight cousin and the next on the top of the school roof. Another when he'd turned his teacher's hair a familiar and heart-clenching_ blue_.

_one, two, three, four_-

Still, he thought that_ 'magic'_ was a stupid name for the abilities, surely there was a better term for it?

Then he'd gone with Hagrid to_ Diagon Alley_, and what a ridiculous name that was. What's next, Vertic Alley, Horizont Alley? But he was happy to escape his relatives, even if it was only for a few hours.

He'd spotted someone out of the corner of his eyes, their hair changed colour, and it reminded him of-

_Faces changing, eyes different and yet the same, smile remaining_-

The _one, two, three, four_, of his mind pounded, as he forgot.

He'd then purchased his supplies, clothing, and a wand, and Hagrid had gotten him a bird, what was he supposed to do with a _bird_? All too soon, he was dropped off at his relative's house, to survive for one more month. September the first would soon roll around, then he could go to _Hogwarts_, to learn_ magic_.

Harry was left with a sense of_ longing_.

And a vague memory of_ blue_.


	3. Chapter 3

Books were a big part of Harry's life.

They gave him something to do when he was hiding from his cousin's gang in the library. Books gave him an escape from reality, even if he was still learning as he did so. Sitting on the steam train, Hogwarts Express, he lost himself in the world of reading once more. He had paid no mind when his compartment was invaded by the youngest male _red-haired_-

_He_ always did like red hair-

_One, two, three, four_-

Child from the gaggle that stood around the barrier to the platform. The same group that had shown him how to access the platform, as Hagrid had _forgotten_ to inform him of how he should do that.

"But Fred and George tell me that their mate, Lee, has a bloody _tarantula_ in their compartment-"

He had been sceptical of the whole _running into a brick wall_, at least until the twins of the family had gone before him and he'd watched.

"So, anyways, that's why I'm not sitting with my brothers-"

Harry felt his eyebrow twitch as he attempted to focus on the book in his lap. It was about _transfiguration_, which seemed interesting to him. Perhaps he'd be able to transfigure his hair to stay flat?

"Anyways, my name's Ron, wh-"

Harry slammed his book shut and stared at the_ red, red, red_, haired boy sat across from him, he seemed to have a rather bad case of verbal diarrhoea. The boy's mouth snapped shut as their eyes met.

"Harry."

The spoken word caused the boy,_ Ron_, to look towards his forehead.

"Harry, as in Harry Potter?"

Harry blinked, he'd forgotten that he was, _for some stupid reason_, famous here. For _killing_ a madman as a _baby_ no less. _Seriously_, what could a one-year-old do to a powerful wizard like that? _Babble him to death_? Unlikely, it was too bad that no-one knew what had truly happened that night.

"_No_, Harry Houdini."

"But-"

"_I'm being sarcastic_."

"Oh."

Harry rolled his eyes, before staring at the boy once more.

"Can I go back to reading or are you going to continue to chatter on about things I don't particularly care about?"

He knew he was being rude, but Ron had given him a headache, one of the first that _wasn't_ caused by the_ four-beat drum_ of his mind. It left him in a bad mood and as such, he felt no remorse in his actions.

"I, uh, sorry, I'll be quiet."

Harry gave him a stiff nod before he picked his book up once again and flipped it open. All was quiet for a solid five minutes when the compartment door burst open and a brown and bushy-haired girl poked her head inside.

"Have either of you seen a toad?" She asked.

"No, and bloody hell, does the world have something against me reading?" Harry grumbled as he set the book down on the seat next to him.

_Train rides_, Harry decided, were _awful_.

He also decided that_ red_ would only look good on the_ mystery man_ of his mind.


	4. Chapter 4

About a week after he had gone to Diagon Alley, Harry remembered and didn't forget.

A face, _many_, actually. But he knew they were all the same person.

He remembered his _old, laughing_ and _joyful_ eyes and his lopsided smile. He remembered his love of red hair and the bright blue that always accompanied him.

Harry remembered, and yet, he did not.

The violent thumping of the_ one, two, three, four_, could no longer cause him to forget_ him_.

His mystery man.

He did not know his name, he couldn't remember anything but his many faces, and the fact he liked red hair and the accompanying blue.

But he knew.

He _loved, hated, feared, adored_, him.

His heart clenched painfully as the scenery rolled past.

And Harry remembered, just a little more.


	5. Chapter 5

Harry was tired and frustrated.

In the past 24 hours, he'd travelled from London to Scotland on a train with a _very_ talkative boy in his compartment. Said compartment had been invaded many times by many people.

Then, once they got to the _Hogsmeade_ train station, the first years, which included himself, had been ushered down a set of stairs, into a boat and then up some more stairs by Hagrid. They then had to wait around for the deputy headmistress, Professor McGonagall.

They were in a small room off to the side of the hall which they'd be ushered into in a few moments.

As if that wasn't enough, a group of _ghosts_ had then entered the room. They'd scared many of the other children present and caused his headache to grow even _worse_.

Harry just wanted it to be over so he could go to bed.

"Move along now, the Sorting Ceremony is about to begin," came the voice of the stern-looking woman, causing the ghosts to scatter.

She turned to face the crowd of first years and spoke once more.

"Now, form a line and follow me."

As they fell into line and entered what was known as the Great Hall. Gasps were heard from the gathered children as they caught a glimpse of the, _admittedly impressive_, ceiling. The bushy-haired witch that had invaded his compartment said something about charms.

Harry wondered how it worked and if he could replicate it.

His attention was ripped from the ceiling by _singing_, however, and when he turned his head down, he saw its origin was a_ Hat_ of all things. He heard Ron mutter something under his breath, but he wasn't paying attention to him.

Clapping followed the end of the song and children were called up and had the Hat placed on their head to determine where they would go. The Sorting seemed to fly by and all too soon it was his turn.

"Harry Potter."

Whispers sprang around the hall and he gave a wary glance over the assorted children as he made his way to the small, three-legged stool. The Hat was lowered on his head and his vision grew dark.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

Harry gave a slight jump and_ one, two, three, four_, ran about in his head.

"That is an interesting defence, Mr Potter, but it must be quite painful."

"You're the Hat, right? Aren't you supposed to be sorting me, not snooping about in my head?" Harry shot back, ignoring the Hat's comment.

"I am indeed the Hat, Mr Potter, and for your information, I'm looking to see where the best place to put you would be. Those drums make this task a lot more difficult than it should be."

The Hat shifted slightly on his head.

"Definitely not Slytherin. While you are quite cunning, you do not have many ambitions. The ones that you do have are much more personal than the snakes typically deal with," another shift.

"Not Gryffindor either. While you are brave and determined, you think more logically than what is typical for the lions. No, you'd fit in better somewhere else."

"Nor is Hufflepuff the home for you. You are hard-working when it suits you, and your loyalty is to yourself and whoever this odd fellow is."

Harry stiffened at the mention of _his_ mystery man.

"Now, now, I can't tell a soul what I see in your mind, your secrets are safe with me," the Hat huffed. "The house that fits you most, for their logical thinking and their pursuit of knowledge is..." The Hat turned as if facing the hall, before calling out to everyone else.

"RAVENCLAW."

As Harry stumbled over to the _blue, blue, blue_, table, he worried.

Who else would find out about _his_ mystery man?

Because Harry _did not want to share him_.


	6. Chapter 6

Harry was unimpressed.

It had been almost two months since He had arrived at Hogwarts. So far, he'd dealt with racist children, people _far_ too interested in his personal life for his comfort and a teacher who _hated_ his guts.

He enjoyed Transfiguration and Astronomy the most out of all the lessons. He also believed that if Potions were taught by someone who didn't have any issues with him, that it'd be a rather interesting subject. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be.

Charms was interesting, History of Magic made him, and his classmates fall asleep, Herbology annoyed him, Flying was too much of a pain to be useful. Oh, let's not forget Defence Against the Dark Arts. A subject that held so much promise was being taught by a _stuttering coward_ who _stunk_ of garlic.

Not to mention, the one time he made direct eye contact with him, his head _burnt_, just behind his scar and-

_ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR_-

It was loud, so _very_ loud. Much louder than he'd_ ever_ heard.

Professor Quirrell flinched and refused to look him in the eye again.

Harry found that to be suspicious.

He'd later looked it up, apparently, he was _sensitive_ to _'Legilimency'_ and had a _natural_ defence against it in the form of his drums. Also, it was illegal to use it. Harry didn't report it since the people around here didn't believe what they didn't want to hear. In his own opinion, it would have been useless to even try.

In the time that he had been there, he'd managed to keep mostly to himself. His housemates realised that he just wanted to be left alone, to not have to answer pointless questions, which they respected and left him alone. He could not count any of them as his friends and was often labelled the loner of his year group in his house.

Of course, he didn't expect any of this to change that night.

The Halloween feast was bright, oversaturated orange was all but shoved into their faces as they entered the hall.

Harry paid no mind to any of it, as he sat at the end of the table reading a book on memories. He'd been searching for a reason behind his random memories but had yet to find anything that would truly explain it.

The feast passed by in a flurry of hyperactive children when it happened.

Professor Quirrell slammed open the doors of the Great Hall and ran to the centre of the room.

"Troll! In the dungeons! Thought you ought to know!" and then he fainted.

Right on to the concrete flooring.

_Ouch_.

Harry followed his housemates as they began to make their way to their tower, both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor headed left out of the Great Hall when he heard whispering from his right, a group of Gryffindors were talking amongst themselves, Ron Weasley, the red-headed boy from his compartment admitted that he'd said something to the bushy-haired witch, the same witch who had attempted to locate a toad on the train, had commented on the ceiling charms, and was the daughter of a pair of dentists.

Whatever he has said caused her to run off crying after their Gryffindor-Slytherin Charms lesson from before lunch. She had ended up in the girl's bathroom in the Charm's corridor on the third floor and had not been seen since.

Harry grumbled, weighing the pros and cons of leaving her alone, as the corridor the Charms class was not on the same floor as the dungeons.

In the end, in a moment of surprisingly strong morality, he decided he wouldn't feel right if he willingly left her there. Especially if the troll somehow made its way to the bathrooms and squished her like a bug.

He gave a quiet groan and slipped out of the line that was following the sixth year Ravenclaw prefect to their tower. Quickly, he made his way to the third-floor charms corridor.

Six minutes and twelve seconds later, he was glad that he had slipped away. If the screaming and crashing was any sign, the troll was most _definitely_ not in the dungeons.

As he ran around the corner and down the corridor, he readied his wand, he had to think fast. Spells couldn't penetrate troll hide easily, but perhaps he could knock it out somehow? Glimpsing at the troll, he noticed its club and made a decision.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" he called out, the magic sparked out of his wand, taking the troll's club in its grasp. With a swift movement of his wrist, the weapon went soaring into the air, hanging above the beast. Then he relaxed his magic, releasing the club, causing it to smack the troll directly in the soft point on its head, rendering it unconscious.

"Hey, are you okay?"

The witch that was huddled into the corner of the bathroom, stared at him with wide eyes.

"I think so."

And that's how Harry gained a friend, Hermione Granger.

He couldn't help but believe that_ he_ would be _proud_ of him, for both saving the girl and becoming friends with her.

Harry also thought that _he_ would have loved to have seen the troll.


	7. Chapter 7

Almost another two months had passed since the troll incident, the two of them had gotten off with twenty-five points taken from each of their houses. Which was more than could be said for Ron. He'd received two weeks of detention for bullying and unintentionally endangering another student. He got a howler from his mother too, so he now left her alone.

It was now Christmas morning. He'd slept in later than everyone else who had stayed in the castle, mostly because Harry didn't really celebrate it. Christmas was just another day for him. He'd gotten Hermione a book on traditions and myths that were common in the wizarding world, as he knew that she did celebrate the holiday.

She'd been really surprised when he'd admitted that he didn't care for the holiday.

When Harry entered the common room of Ravenclaw tower, he wasn't surprised to see a present from Hermione awaiting him. What _did_ surprise him was a second package tucked under the tree addressed to him.

The gift from Hermione was a book on Physics, she truly knew him quite well. The unknown gift turned out to be a cloak, it was made of a soft and silky fabric that shimmered like stars in the night sky. It was_ beautiful_. It also made him invisible and according to the note that came with it, it had belonged to his father when he was alive.

He attended the Christmas dinner with the small selection of people who had stayed in the castle for the winter. He won a _chess set_ from a_ Christmas cracker_ and then headed for bed.

When he was sure that everyone was asleep, he snuck out under his new cloak. He wandered the deserted hallways, taking in the castle when it was quiet was a rather interesting experience.

While wandering the corridors, Harry was not expecting to come across a mirror in an empty classroom. It was easy to translate the back-to-front script above the top.

"_I show not your face but your heart's desire_," he whispered the words to himself, before he peered into the mirror, what was reflected to him, his true desire, did not truly surprise him.

The drums seemed to calm as he looked, the _one, two, three, four_, becoming slow and unnervingly quiet.

He was stood in the middle of what appeared to be space, surrounded by stars of various sizes and colour, behind him was_ his_ mystery man. All of them, that he knew of at least. They were stood in front of a somewhat familiar blue colour. It was much darker than he remembered and was a navy blue instead of the_ bright_ and saturated colour that he recalled. But if what he had learnt about memories was right, it was unsurprising that he remembered it more vibrantly than it actually was. The blue colour was on a box, and if the History books he'd read in the public library at Little Whinging was correct, it was a police box.

Harry lifted his hand and caressed the face of the mystery man, the one that was closest to him. If someone had been in the room watching him, they would have seen his face soften completely, pure adoration and love becoming visible in his eyes.

He stood like that, getting lost in the many faces of _the man_ for what seemed like a lifetime, but was actually ten minutes before he turned and left.

He would not return, it was not real, and he knew that he would become a victim to the mirror.

His heart clenched painfully, and a sense of _wrongness_ filled him.


	8. Chapter 8

It was three months before the end of term when Harry found it.

A thick book located in a dusty corner of the Hogwarts library normally it would be overlooked. It was old and looked like it hadn't been read in a_ very_ long time, but peering inside of it, he saw what could be answers to his strange memories.

There were just a_ few_ problems.

The first was, no matter how hard he searched, no book shops seemed to sell this book. He also would not be able to read it all by the end of the school year. The school also did not allow its students to borrow books over the summer. So, in Harry's mind, there was only one thing he would be able to do.

Harry had to _borrow_ the book _without telling anyone_ and without the library's archives updating to tell who had borrowed it. He_ wasn't_ stealing it because he was planning on returning it after he finished reading it.

So, Harry got to brainstorming and then researching._ What_ were the library's defences and_ how_ would he be able to get around them?

He spent a month researching runes. A month breaking into the library at night to look at the system that the library employed, which would update that when someone took a book out of the room. He spent it just generally learning the system before he felt that he would be able to pull it off.

So, with just under two months remaining of the school year, Harry broke into the library once again. This time heading for the library's protection runes, located on the door. He copied a small rune from a piece of parchment, adding it into the sequence of runes etched into the library's door.

The rune was designed to cause the rest of the runes to temporarily fail, and as soon as a single book that was registered to the runic system was removed, the added rune would fade and allow the rest to reactivate.

After he had carefully added the rune, Harry went to the shelf that held the rather large book, he took it out and carefully hid it behind a set of armour in the hallway, just out of the sight of any patrolling staff members.

His nervousness grew and with it the _one, two, three, four_, beat rapidly, reminding him of the chance he may get caught.

He quickly made his way back to the library and checked the archives that named any book that had been taken out and by who. The folder of parchment was just under the desk of the librarian, who was called Madam Pince.

Harry gave a quiet sigh of relief as he saw that the book had not registered as being taken out.

Grabbing the book and walking back to the tower, Harry wondered why, if it was that easy, no-one had taken a book without staff permission in the past. Actually, someone might have, but no-one found out. He just couldn't believe he had managed to pull that off.

Getting back into his dorm room was easy now, as he had been doing it very often. Harry pulled his cloak off and hid the book in its depths before securing it in his trunk and slipping into his bed.

Hopefully '_Reincarnation and You_' had the answers he needed.

_One, two, three, four_.

As the summer rapidly grew closer, Harry thought more and more about his relatives and his home life and decided that he _did not_ wish to return to them.

He had a means of escape, a place to live and even funds.

His escape would be the invisibility cloak. The place to live would be his trunk, it was purchased with a hidden room and the ability to be shrunk and grown without the use of his wand. So, there was no chance of being caught by the ministry's trace.

His funds would come from Gringotts, where he could take some gold out and have it changed to the _muggle_-

_What a stupid word_-

Currency. Harry had managed to get Hagrid to give him his vault key, so he had no worries when it came down to it.

With that figured out, he just had to figure out what he wanted to do during the summer.

_One, two, three, four_.

It was during one of Harry's late-night wanderings, that he saw _Quirrell_ heading up to the third floor, on the corridor that was out of bounds.

Feeling his curiosity kick in, he followed him silently.

Harry felt his eyebrows raise as he followed the seemingly cowardly man enter a room with a massive _three-headed dog_. He watched as he unshrank an enchanted harp and placed it down in the corner, causing the beast to fall asleep.

He followed him silently through all sorts of puzzles and traps before he ended up in a room with the _mirror_ he had seen on Christmas.

Harry watched, stunned as he paced about in front of it, talking to a seemingly disembodied voice. He proceeded to unwrap his turban and reveal a _deformed, second face_ on the_ back of his head_.

He felt_ disgusted_ as it rambled on about a stone that would grant him a body of his own and eternal life, before screaming at Quirrell for being useless.

He stood there watching for a while, unwilling to get in the way of the man. Soon a small group of staff members, Professors Snape, Dumbledore and McGonagall, came and battled it out. He watched as spells were flung about for an entire seven minutes before Quirrell _dropped dead and a cloud of black smoke erupted from his body_.

He stood there for a while afterwards wondering what had just happened before he decided to return to his bed.

He would figure it out in the morning.

Harry couldn't help but believe that his mystery man and his blue box would have _loved_ something like that.


	9. Chapter 9

After the school year had ended, Harry had put his plan for ditching his relatives into play.

He'd not told Hermione, knowing she'd get upset with him if he'd told her that he planned on travelling around the United Kingdom by himself.

He was currently on a train from London, Paddington, heading towards the Exeter St David's station. He planned on making his way through Dartmoor. A combination of busses and taxis, along with a bit of hiking, would get him through the moors area quickly. It would also be giving him plenty of time to explore.

In total, Harry planned to spend a week and a half on the boggy countryside of Dartmoor. With a combination of camping in his trunk and hiring a room at an inn, he was sure he'd be fine.

Artemis, the _owl_ Hagrid had gotten him-

Named after the goddess of the hunt, wilderness and animals, along with a few other things-

Was enjoying the chance to truly spread her wings and explore the wide-open area. She was currently flying outside of the train and Harry had no worries that she'd get lost, she was a very smart bird.

The train ride was two and a half hours long, he'd gotten a late-night ride down the country to the city that was in Devon. He would book himself into a hotel when he got there. From what he remembered from looking at some maps, there was a chain hotel across the road from the station.

So, as the train carried on its path to Exeter, Harry began to read the book he'd taken from Hogwarts.

_One, two, three, four._

Hiking and catching public transport across Dartmoor was an _interesting_ experience.

People would look at him weird when he told them what he was doing, but he ignored them. So far it had been a pleasant experience.

Every so often, when he ran low on food, Artemis would bring back something for him to cook up after she had gotten her own food. This was_ interesting_ because he was pretty sure the only thing that she had been trained for was for carrying post.

Dartmoor was a very peaceful area; he'd had plenty of time to relax and read his book.

Only the sound of the few animals around the area, the wind, and the _one, two, three, four_, of his mind to keep him company.

Harry was sat on his trunk in an old-fashioned inn that sat in a small village not too far from the edge of the moors. The wooden box was set next to an old desk, which the large book, borrowed from the Hogwarts library rest upon.

He was pretty sure he understood what was _wrong_ with him now.

According to _Reincarnation and You_, someone could be born with a soul that had been through a life already, which was known as reincarnation. Now, this would normally not be a problem, considering most reincarnated persons were _muggles_. _But_, with witches and wizards, their magic could latch onto certain things that were part of their last life.

Such as; _memories, physical traits, personality traits, mental traits, illnesses_, and _powers_.

Harry was, from what he understood, gaining some memories of his prior life. He also believed he had the mental traits of his last life. The_ drums_ and the_ sensitivity_ to Quirrell's mind-reading, _Legilimency_, seemed to lend credibility to that.

He was unsure if any of the other things that had been listed would appear in him, but he decided to keep an eye open,_ just in case_.

_One, two, three, four._

Oxford was an interesting place to visit, it was filled with castles and museums and made a great area to explore.

Sure, one could argue that he lived in a castle for nine months of the year, but this was_ different_.

None of them were like Hogwarts.

He enjoyed visiting the museums the most. He'd made sure to take some photos on a disposable camera he'd purchased at one of the local supermarkets-

He forgot which one, it could have been any of them, _Morrisons, Sainsbury's, ASDA_, just to name a few-

So that Hermione could have a look at them when he next saw her.

Harry had never had the chance to truly appreciate just how_ massive_ the dinosaurs had been. The skeletons to the colossal beasts hung so far above his head that he almost fell over while trying to look up at it.

Paintings weren't nearly as interesting as they were at Hogwarts. He kept waiting for them to move, before he would remember that this was a _muggle_ area and as such, moving paintings just did not exist.

Walking around one of the corners, past a statue, he didn't notice a small voice calling out to him.

"Harry Potter must not go to-" the voice cut off as the creature it belonged to ran into that same statue.

But Harry didn't notice and continued to the next exhibition.

He spent a total of a week in Oxford before he moved on once more.

_One, two, three, four._

Cardiff was an interesting city, although Harry thought he was_ forgetting_ something _important_ about it.

He had been there for about a week, checking out the various sights in the area and messing around on the beach, he'd had learnt how to make a _sandcastle_; it had been _amazing_, the rare Welsh sun shining down on him as he played in the sand and water gave him a type of joy that he'd only ever dreamed about.

He thought he'd heard someone calling his name, but he hadn't been able to find it's source and had thus shrugged it off, not noticing a small creature that had fallen into a large hole he'd dug to collect the sand for his sandcastle.

During the time spent there, he'd also found a magical shopping district, which was named _Temporal Alley_. While he was there, he'd bought two copies of a book on magical districts around the world. He was planning on gifting one to Hermione when he went over to her house. Her parents had offered to let him stay at their house for the last week of the holiday, not knowing that he'd been travelling.

He said yes, not wanting to disappoint his only friend, who was, _honestly_, more like a sister at this point.

It was as he was rushing to the train station to catch the two-hour ride back to London that he ran, _quite literally_, into someone.

"Sorry," he spoke quickly to the man, scrambling to pick up the backpack, which he'd bought at Exeter before he'd gone on to Dartmoor. It held his shrunken trunk and a few things he would need quickly, like his coat for when it started tipping it down.

"Oh no, don't apologise, I should have been looking where I was going," the_ familiar-sounding_ man waved his apology off.

Harry didn't have time to dwell on where he'd both seen and heard the man before.

"Ah, I need to go, sorry again for _running_ into you," he chuckled as he darted around the tall man.

He didn't notice the man watching him with a confused look, and it wasn't until the train was pulling away from the station that he realised.

That was_ his_ mystery man he'd ran into.

_One, two, three, four._

The week at Hermione's house was interesting, her parents, Scott and Emily seemed to think that he was_ cute_.

He was _not_ cute.

She had flipped when she found out that he'd been travelling alone for the summer, so had her parents. They'd calmed slightly when he'd explained his situation with his_ relatives_ and how he had the funds to travel safely. They'd begrudgingly agreed that travelling seemed the better option of the two.

On another note, Hermione loved the book he got for her.

Going back to Diagon Alley for books was an interesting experience. Apparently, they'd missed a big shot author signing by one day. The same author was the one who wrote the following year's Defence books.

Once they got back to her house, the two had gone through the Defence books and had decided they were garbage. Hermione had been set to believe them, at least until he pointed out many inconsistencies in the timeline of events-

How could you be in _China_ and _India_ at the same time?

After that, she'd gone through the books once again and decided that the author was a fraud.

With the remaining days of the summer, the two had done fun activities, including the cinema, swimming, and playing games at a local arcade.

All in all, it had been an interesting summer for Harry.

He'd learnt things about the world and himself and as the four of them sat at a cafe an hour before the two had to board the Hogwarts Express once again.

He couldn't help but think of_ Cardiff_ and his _mystery man_ once more.


	10. Chapter 10

Their second year at Hogwarts was shaping up to be, well, boring. Other than the fraudulent author posing as their Defence teacher, the year was going about the same as the last.

Harry and Hermione had been meeting up in the library, as they had the previous year, to study together.

Currently, they were looking through some books that they'd found in the same place he'd found the book on reincarnation. Which he hadn't returned.

He felt the _one, two, three, four_, beat in his mind, almost as if amused that he'd yet to do that._ That_ was a new thing, also. Once he had realised the whole being reincarnated thing, the drums seemed to _gain_ a _personality_ and the headaches seemed to vanish. It had been a little jarring at first, but he quickly grew used to it.

He was reading a book on obscure runes. They were obscure because they were practically useless, but still, it was an interesting read.

"Hey, Harry?"

"Hm?"

"Could you pass me your wand for a second?"

He slid his wand out of his pocket and over to her, the sound of shuffling pages could be heard. Then some noises that he would normally associate with confusion.

"Uh, Harry?"

"Yes?" he looked up at her, waiting for her to say her question.

"Is this wand wood _silver lime_?" she turned her gaze to him, "This isn't native to the United Kingdom, how did you get it?"

"Ollivander said that it was gifted to him from an Asian wandmaker," he looked back to his book. "I didn't get any other specifics, other than the fact that the core was an experimental one."

"_Experimental_?"

"Yeah, apparently someone in the _Department of Mysteries_ gave him some sand from a broken Time-Turner as a joke. He decided to see if it would work as a wand core. It does."

"What's a Time-Turner?"

"Don't know."

That was a lie, he'd spent five weeks obsessing over information on them during their first year before they'd become friends. He just didn't want to get into the discussion of time travel. It felt too personal for some reason.

There was silence for a while before Hermione decided to ask another question, that threw him off a little bit.

"Harry, are you a seer?"

"What?" his head snapped up to stare at her.

"I mean, apparently silver lime works best for seers, and the fact that your wand core is made from something called a _Time-Turner_. I just thought," she looked from him to his wand, then back to the book spread out on the table in front of them.

"I don't_ think_ so?" he questioned.

The two looked at his wand for a moment.

"I suppose we'll find out for sure one day," she muttered.

Harry felt dread settle in his stomach.

A _seer_?_ Him_?

_Hell no_.

_One, two, three, four._

As the winter holidays crept up, the school settled into a _panic_.

Students were being _petrified_ by something or someone. It had started on _Halloween_, which, by now, Harry believed was cursed or something. It had been the caretaker's cat at first, he'd gone on and blamed Ron for her death, before it was confirmed she was still alive. He didn't know why he was around that area when the cat was found, but in all honesty, he didn't care.

Another bad thing in the eyes of most of the population of Hogwarts was that some of the _Quidditch_-

_Why would you call a sport something stupid like that?_

Equipment had gone rogue, which had led to an extensive investigation into how the balls, _Bludgers,_ he remembered being told they were called, had been hijacked and how to prevent it from happening again. The investigation was still ongoing, and the games had to be put on hold until the new year at the latest.

Harry was currently alone, sat under a tree next to the lake, watching the snowfall gently from the sky and just thinking.

He'd been thinking more and more about _his_ mystery man as the months turned cold, almost like a calling card. It teased him with memories he just_ could not_ remember.

Although he had Hermione and everyone in the school knew of him, he still felt _lonely_.

Recently, his chest began to fell off, almost as though there was something_ wrong_ with it. He knew there wasn't, he'd gone to the nurse just to make sure. But he just could not get rid of the feeling.

_Thump, thump_. Pause. _Thump, thump_. Pause._ Thump, thump_. Pause.

It just felt_ wrong, wrong, wrong_!

Hermione, bless her heart, would notice when he felt down or something else seemed wrong with him and would attempt to cheer him up. It didn't work, but he refused to let her see that.

So, as he sat, watching the soft flakes dance down from the sky, Harry tried, for once, to _forget_, rather than remember, and yet a smile danced in the corner of his mind.

And Harry felt_ comforted_, yet _lonely_.

Oh, and he _still_ hadn't returned that book yet.


	11. Chapter 11

The winter holidays came by quickly and Harry found himself invited to Hermione's house for Christmas.

He agreed and they spent a nice couple of weeks enjoying the company they provided.

Scott and Emily also found it weird that he didn't celebrate Christmas but accepted it none the less.

He talked his head of house into buying his hosts a nice bottle of_ Firewhisky_, which they enjoyed. For Hermione, he purchased a nice book on obscure magics.

He received a nice stack of advanced Physics and Astrophysics books from Hermione and her parents. As well as a black hoodie with blue fur lining and a bronze raven on the back. It was warm and quickly became his favourite item of clothing.

Unsurprisingly, the two were reluctant to go back to school. After all, there was still something going around petrifying students.

_One, two, three, four._

It had been three months since their return to_ Hogwarts_ and grew Harry furious when he got called to the nurse's office.

_Hermione had been petrified!_

He_ growled_ when he saw her still body, lying on the bed, her hand outstretched as if holding something.

His eyes narrowed into slits as he fought off his anger. The_ one, two, three, four_, screaming for blood.

Harry would make whoever was causing this feel pain.

Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to calm down. Reaching out, he let his hand trail down her cheek.

Then he noticed a piece of paper grasped in the hand that lay next to her body and with a small bit of effort, he pried it out of her grasp.

He read. Then he let out a broken sounding laugh.

Basilisk.

It was a bloody _Basilisk_.

_One, two, three, four._

"I'm worried about Mr Potter."

"He hasn't been sleeping very well."

"I saw him talking to a mirror yesterday."

"Did you hear him _growl?_ It sounded like an animal!"

"I don't think I've seen him eat in three days; I'm surprised he hasn't keeled over yet."

"He hasn't been seen in the dormitory since Hermione was admitted to the hospital wing. Do you think he's been there all that time?"

"I think he needs to see a therapist."

Harry hated these whispers the most.

_One, two, three, four._

_Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever._

He was glad he'd been researching the Chamber of Secrets. If he hadn't, he wouldn't have figured out that Moaning Myrtle had been killed the last time the Basilisk was loose.

He'd talked to her and learnt that the entrance was in that bathroom.

A bit more digging and a few weeks later he'd found out how it was opened.

Apparently being able to speak to snakes did come in handy sometimes.

A week after he'd figured it out, this message came about.

It was the perfect opportunity to get his revenge for Hermione.

_One, two, three, four._

Making his way to the clearing in the Chamber, Harry noticed the unconscious red-haired girl first. Then he noticed the apparition of a young boy.

He felt his lips draw up in a snarl, showing off his teeth, a deep growl rumbling through his chest.

He knew he must look and sound like a vicious beast, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

This boy had threatened_ his_ sister!

The boy, Tom, he was told, gloated about how he'd tricked the girl into writing in his diary, how he'd take her life for himself and kill the muggleborns.

Harry didn't care.

Soon there was a large Basilisk attempting to kill him and he was unprepared.

Then the most bizarre thing to happen in a situation such as this occurred.

A _phoenix_ flew in, with that singing hat.

Then the hat dropped a _sword_ and Harry smirked.

He could work with this.

_One, two, three, four._

Harry was pinned to the ground; the large snake had pierced his arm with one of its deadly fangs.

The creature had been blinded by the fire bird, and as he lay there, Harry took the chance to shove the sword directly through its head.

It gave a deafening screech, then dropped down, dead.

As the potent venom coursed through his veins, Harry found his thoughts drifting towards_ his_ mystery man.

His vision blurred around the edges and his heart slowed to a stop. He saw the phoenix swoop down, likely to cry on his wound to purge the venom, but even he could tell it was too late.

He was dying.

Ha... _Ha, ha, ha..._

_Wasn't that funny?_

A sigh escaped his lips and the world turned black.

_One, two, three, four._

Harry awoke, or at least it seemed like he'd awoken, but he was certain he'd died. To an expanse of black, with small white orbs scattered around.

It was beautiful.

He sat down in a small circle of the orbs, as he looked around, he spotted an _abomination_ of a creature.

It was small, the size of a young child, looked malnourished and very deformed. Its breathing was raspy with a slight undertone of hissing.

It was _disgusting._

Harry blinked, wondering just where that thought had come from, it wasn't wrong, but he felt slightly uncomfortable with it.

He continued sitting there, watching the creature for a small while, before he realised that the drums were_ gone._

And he could clearly remember _everything._

He panicked, that is until a deep voice cut into this.

"You should not be here. Not yet."

Harry passed out.

_One, two, three, four._

Harry woke up in the chamber once more, it seemed as though no time at all had passed. Blood flowed down his arm and a thick black and very warm sludge spilt down his face.

He couldn't remember most of what had happened in that starry field, nor could he remember most of his past life, as before.

He could, however, remember his_ name_. That he _hadn't been human_, nor had_ his_ mystery man, who to his annoyance, he could _not_ remember the name of.

Names.

Harry decided he didn't like the name that his past self had picked, it reminded him of a time long gone, an_ awful_ time. It was also an incredibly egotistical name if he were honest with himself, which he was.

Honestly, "The Master", what was he thinking?

Oh, right, he wasn't because _he'd gone completely insane!_

Harry reminded himself that he'd never have to return to that sorry state of existence ever again.

He remembered some of his childhood, much of it had been spent with _his_ mystery man. They'd been _best friends_. He remembered their first kiss, it was shy and unsure, but it was _wonderful_.

He didn't remember much, only a few bits and pieces. He wouldn't be able to remember his prior schooling, nor most of his adult life. Harry calculated that he'd gained about three years' worth of memories, most of them were trivial.

Sitting up, he gave the fire bird a scratch on the head, before pushing off the ground.

He grabbed the closest sharp object near him, one of the Basilisk's fangs and stabbed it through the diary of the angry wraith.

It was over.

Harry looked at the large snake and grabbed the sword he'd dropped. With a rather large amount of effort, he hacked it's head off.

He left the head for a moment, bending down and picking up the cursed diary, he placed it in the mouth of the blinded beast. He then grabbed the girl, Ron's sister if he wasn't mistaken, and settled her on his back. He cast a sticking charm to her so she wouldn't fall off.

He pocketed her fallen wand, then grabbed the severed head of the Basilisk, and allowed the phoenix to carry them out of the Chamber.

_One, two, three, four._

Harry had become the focus of the school's gossip; thanks to the large snake head he'd kept. The headmaster hadn't wanted to let him keep it, but he'd managed to convince him. Just so long as he had its fangs and venom removed.

Hermione had woken up that morning and had promptly screamed at him when she'd learnt what he did. He'd sat there and taken the lecture, knowing she was only worried for him.

Golden strings now danced along his vision, teasing him with pictures of different futures and promises that everything would be okay, he didn't know where they came from, but he did know that she couldn't see them.

No-one could.

In a moment of morbid curiosity, he reached out and plucked the string that lingered the closest to Hermione and then the world erupted into colour.

_A globe of glass. Sand the colour of his strings. A dog. A werewolf. Dementors. Screaming. Lessons. The forbidden forest. Tired._

Harry gasped as he pulled his hand away.

"Harry, are you okay?" she spoke, panic in her voice.

He explained in a resigned tone of voice what he'd just done and what he'd seen because of it, causing her to laugh.

"So now you're a seer of sorts who _doesn't want to be a seer._"

Harry scowled.

_One, two, three, four._

Harry tried to nap on the journey back to London but found the phantom beats of a non-existent drum that echoed with teasing memories of a second heart was keeping him up.

He knew it wasn't there, that it didn't exist, but the knowledge of this didn't stop the feeling.

And truthfully, Harry didn't mind.

Because it felt a little like _coming home._


	12. Chapter 12

About two months before the summer holidays, Harry had sent off for a passport.

The passport had been sent to him about a month later.

Now, during the holiday, Harry planned to go to Japan and then China.

He'd heard good things about both countries as tourist areas. He'd also heard rumours of_ magic-proof mobile phones_ being developed in Japan.

So, Harry took a taxi from King's Cross train station to Heathrow airport and booked a flight to Japan.

After waiting around in the airport for a few hours, he boarded his twelve-hour flight.

And so, the summer of 1993 began.

_One, two, three, four._

Japan was an interesting country.

Harry had been exploring the area, visiting shrines and other cool places.

He'd managed to get a hold of two magic resistant mobile phones, although they seemed big and clunky.

He blamed the few memories he had of his previous childhood on his high standards for technology. Harry knew for a fact that they hadn't been developed past this point yet.

The Japanese magic district was rather advanced compared to the English magical population. They were actively pushing to advance technology with magic, something he approved of.

After spending the month of July in Japan, Harry went to China.

_One, two, three, four._

China was big.

Travelling around the large country was a rather fun experience for Harry.

Stumbling across an eastern dragon at the magical marketplace next to the Great Wall of China had been educational for him. Unlike their western cousins, the eastern variety seemed to have the ability to talk.

Harry also picked up a few trinkets for Hermione and her parents. An animated toy dragon, a book on the histories of the Asian magical world, and a bottle of Baijiu. Which he stashed in his trunk before anyone realised the vendor sold liquor to a minor.

Then, with a week until the end of the holidays, Harry made his way back to the UK to spend the last few days with Hermione once again.

_One, two, three, four._

"So, what courses did you choose?" Hermione asked him as they made their way through Diagon Alley.

Harry looked up from his Hogwarts list.

"Ancient Runes and Arithmancy."

"What, no Divination?" she joked.

He rolled his eyes and sped up his pace, ignoring as she let out a laugh.

"I'm just kidding!" she jogged to catch up to him and proceeded to ruffle his shoulder-length hair.

"_Oi_!" he swatted her hand away from his head. "I spent ages getting it to stay flat, Hermione." came his complaint.

She snickered.

"You're just so short, Harry, it's so tempting to just-"

He caught her hand as she tried to mess his hair up once more.

"What courses did you pick?" he questioned quickly, hoping to distract her from his height and hair.

_He wasn't short_, it was just that Hermione was _massive_, honestly.

Harry pretended that he didn't reach her chin in height and listened as she talked about the courses.

"Wait, did you just say that you're taking _all of them_?"


	13. Chapter 13

The drama this year decided to start on the train journey to Scotland.

First, all the compartments were full, but that was alright as they managed to find a compartment that held only one other person, a Mr_ R. J. Lupin_.

He was asleep on one of the benches, so the two sat on the one opposite and read so they wouldn't disturb the sleeping man.

The ride passed in silence, that is until they were about an hour and a half away from the school.

Harry lurched forwards in his seat, barely managing to stay on the bench.

"We're not there yet, are we? I'm certain that the journey takes longer than this." Hermione muttered.

He noticed the windows going icy before a loud slamming noise was heard from the end of the train.

Harry barely noticed that the man was awake now, as he pushed Hermione behind him, unwilling to allow anything to harm her.

Soon, the door rattled open and a dark cloaked creature glided into the room, facing him. It drew closer to him and then.

_One, two, three, four._

"Not Harry!_ Please, not Harry_!"

"Step aside you silly girl!"

"I won't let you take him."

"Avada Kedavra!"

A flash of green.

Screaming.

Red eyes looking down on him.

A cruel grin.

"_Avada Kedavra_."

_One, two, three, four._

"I'm _so sorry_, Thete-"

His words cut off as he gasped for air, _The Doctor_ was looking down at him, grief clouding his eyes.

He knew he was dying; it had been his wish after all.

He felt the wonderful man gather him in his arms, felt as his friend's tears hit his face.

"Why didn't you tell me? I could have helped you."

He laughed, it was broken and caused him to heave in deeper breaths.

"It wouldn't have mattered, _Theta_." he drew in a deep breath, "Not in the end."

The grief of his friend filled face filled his vision as the world grew black.

He heard a sob, followed by-

"_Koschei..._"

_One, two, three, four._

Harry sat up with a gasp, his hands clutching at the right side of his chest.

Then he cried.

"I'm sorry." he felt tears flow down his cheeks, but he couldn't help it, "I'm so,_ so sorry_."

He felt hands guiding him to a bench-

When had he fallen on the ground?

And he felt something being pressed into his hands. Hermione was guiding it to his mouth, urging him to eat.

It was chocolate.

Harry spent the rest of the train journey crying.

_One, two, three, four._

Harry was forced to remain in the infirmary for two days. Madam Pomfrey refusing to let him out of her sight after she'd heard of his awful reaction to the creatures.

_Dementors_, they were called.

Oh, and they were going to be in the school until the serial killer _Sirius Black_ was caught.

_Great_.

As a side effect of almost being kissed was that he now remembered _his_ mystery man's name.

_The Doctor, Theta Sigma, Thete_.

Which was nice, although he would have much preferred to have remembered in a _less violent_ way.

He'd not remembered much more than his final death in his past life, along with him calling his friend by all his names, in some strange attempt at comfort.

After two days of mind-numbing boredom, Koschei was released from the hospital wing.

_One, two, three, four._

Apparently, Mr Lupin was _Professor_ Lupin.

Interestingly enough, the man was their Defence teacher for that year. Harry couldn't figure out why he'd ridden the train with them, he was sure that the teachers were supposed to be in the school _at least_ a week in advance.

Even more interesting was their first lesson.

_Boggarts_.

Creatures that would show a person's worst fear.

He stepped in front of the Boggart, noticing the Professor tense up slightly.

The creature morphed into himself. He was older, seemingly in his twenties and wore an expensive-looking suit. His green eyes were half-lidded, and a manic grin was stretched on his face.

"_Please_, stop this madness." came a begging voice, seemingly from behind him.

Koschei froze, before slowly turning around.

Right behind him was_ The Doctor_, chains wrapped around his arms and legs, forcing him to his knees. Harry noticed he had a black eye.

He backed away from the two, tears prickling the corners of his eyes.

"Stop?" older-him laughed, "Why shou-"

Professor Lupin pushed himself between him and the Boggart, causing it to change into the full moon. If he'd been calm, Harry might have made the connection to an important piece of information surrounding his new Professor. However, he wasn't in the right frame of mind to be piecing together the puzzle that was his teacher.

"_Riddikulus_."

Harry dropped to the ground, staring at the place where the two had been, tears slowly making their way down his cheeks.

The rest of the class was stunned into silence.

_One, two, three, four._

"I'm worried about you, Harry."

It was the weekend, Harry and Hermione were sat under a tree near the lake working on homework.

Harry was also working off a headache that came with looking at the girl recently.

After he'd told her that _The Strings_ that surrounded her seemed to have doubled in quantity. Which made her look a lot brighter, giving him a headache. Hermione had let him know that she had been permitted to use a Time-Turner, so she could get to all her classes.

After comparing it to the brightness of his wand thanks to its core, then watching her use it. He had managed to confirm that it was indeed the fact that she'd been time travelling that was affecting _The Strings_.

He gave a hum to let her know that he was listening to her as he worked on some calculations for his Arithmancy class.

"You've been rather lost in thought for the past few weeks." she looked over at him and sighed, putting down her quill. "Ever since the _incident_ on the train, it's like a switch has been flipped. I can't even say the _muggle word_ for a _healer_ without risking bringing you to tears."

Harry winced slightly as he heard his friend speak.

"Harry, I think you need _therapy_."

_Hell no_.


	14. Chapter 14

As the weeks passed into the Autumn season, Harry grew even more annoyed with the presence of the Dementors.

His negative response to the creatures drew attention upon his person. He soon found himself being taught the Patronus charm by Professor Lupin.

"Alright, Harry, you need to concentrate on a memory that makes you happy," Professor Lupin stated.

Calling on happy memories from his past life was _much_ easier than from his current life. He had _many_ fond memories of_ The Doctor_ as they were growing up, which could be used to fuel the charm.

With his mind focused on those memories, he cast the charm, producing a thick silver fog.

Harry gasped for his breath as his magic cut off. The spell was draining, and as such, he couldn't keep it going for very long.

"That's great, Harry!" Professor Lupin pat him on the back, his strength almost knocking him over. "You did a lot better than I expected in such a short time."

Koschei sighed, sinking to his knees as exhaustion set in, gratefully taking a glass of water that was offered to him by the Professor.

"Your mum was good at this charm too."

His head jerked up in surprise, looking at the man.

"You knew my mother?" he asked.

"Your dad too."

The two spent the rest of that Saturday talking about his parents and their friends.

He also learnt why Sirius Black had been incarcerated in Azkaban, but something about the whole issue seemed off to Harry.

_One, two, three, four._

Halloween was a day known to Koschei for its ability to take his calm and smash it to_ itty bitty_ pieces.

Naturally, this year was no different.

The day progressed normally, yet Harry felt as though something was about to go _horribly_ wrong.

In the following morning, a school-wide announcement let everyone know what had happened the previous night. The Gryffindor's portrait to the dormitories,_ the Fat Lady_ had been torn by none other than Sirius Black, who had_ somehow_ broken in while the students had been out.

Security tightened; the teachers seemed to panic over this Sirius person targeting him.

Harry began his own investigations, however. As it was _very_ well known, to those who cared about that kind of thing, that he was in_ Ravenclaw_, not _Gryffindor._

_One, two, three, four._

During the remaining month and a bit leading up to the Christmas holidays, Harry investigated Sirius Black.

He had requested files from the Ministry of Magic, Gringotts and those situated at Azkaban. The letters to get a hold of these files had been sent via Artemis, his _extremely patient_ snowy owl. It had been rather difficult, but not impossible.

What he found raised some alarms.

The first thing that Koschei noticed, from the files from the Ministry, was the fact that there had been _no trial_.

The second thing was that in the files sent by Gringotts, was what appeared to be a_ contract_, written by his parents. This contract stated that it was to be held in front of the Ministry in the case that their secret keeper, one_ Peter Pettigrew_, sold them out.

Because Sirius Black was_ pretending_ to be their secret keeper.

The files sent by the Ministry and Azkaban both stated that he'd killed thirteen muggles and Pettigrew. And that the only thing that had been found of the man had been a single finger.

But Harry knew that he was still alive, _The Strings_ that drifted around his vision gave him that proof.

Each person had multiple strings attached to their being. They would twist around and interact with the strings of another person, but would often fade away, never coming to pass.

If a person were dead, those strings would simply fade away.

Harry had seen some of Pettigrew's strings interacting with his own.

Sighing, he looked at the small piles of paperwork spread out in front of him. Even if he knew that the man, Sirius was innocent, the Ministry would likely ignore and cover up any evidence that may be found, unless there was too much of it.

If the Ministry were given an option between releasing the man or covering it up, Koschei knew exactly which option they would choose.

Cover-ups are better for a person's image than admitting to a mistake, after all.

_One, two, three, four._

A few days before he would go with Hermione to her parents for Christmas-

Scott and Emily seemed to have decided he was theirs now, which felt_ odd-_

Harry had another encounter with a Dementor.

Pain flared against his mind, as he was dragged back through unwanted memories.

_His mother-_

_His death-_

_His Doctor-_

_His Drums-_

He gritted his teeth, through the pain of the mental assault, trying not to scream.

He focused on those glorious memories, just as he'd been taught to, picking out the one that caused the happiest feelings to bloom in him.

_A kiss, shy and sweet, the stars above-_

"_Expecto Patronum!_"

He didn't remember calling it out, although logically, he knew he had.

A_ large silver feline_ stalked across his vision as the world turned black.

And so, Harry spent the last few days of the school term in the hospital wing.


	15. Chapter 15

This year, before he'd ended up in the hospital wing, Harry had gone out and bought Christmas presents from Hogsmeade. He'd talked Professor Lupin into taking him, as he hadn't been allowed to leave the school due to the teacher's_ irrational fears_ of Sirius Black.

"Sirius knows you, he knows that _you know_ his weaknesses. So, if you're with me, he would be wary of approaching us. And hey," Harry placed his hand on the man's arm, "I'll buy you a drink to make up for me dragging you around Christmas shopping?"

The laugh and reluctant agreement from the man left Koschei grinning like a moron.

So, the two went shopping.

Koschei bought the man a new set of warmer clothes. He ignored his protests and threatened to burn them, thus causing it to be a waste of money if he didn't take them.

He shut up after that.

For Scott and Emily, he got a bottle of spiced red wine and a selection of chocolates.

For Hermione, he got a set of books based on what could be in the OWLs and a set of two Gryffindor red scarves, one which would fit on her cat, Crookshanks.

He'd also hesitated for a moment, before picking up a snow globe. The snow globe had a base that looked like clouds and the inside was a pitch black. When shook, it displayed different constellations.

Once back at the castle, he wrapped the gifts, ready for the holidays.

_One, two, three, four._

Spending time at the Grangers was always a relaxing experience, no matter how chaotic the time was.

Watching Hermione attempt to put a scarf on her cat was like watching Theta get chased down a riverbank by a rather annoyed bird.

Funny in a rather chaotic way.

Crookshanks glared at him, knowing that the scarf was all his fault.

For the holiday, he'd received a set of GCSE preparation books from Scott and Emily, along with a set of advanced revision books from Hermione.

The fact that they knew he wanted to take his GCSEs and go into higher education once they were done in magical schooling was a nice thought.

They'd also got him a book on maps, containing maps of the different countries in the world, along with a world map. The book came with a compass which clipped onto his clothes so it wouldn't go missing, which he_ loved_.

He'd also received a book on the Animagus transformation and how to do it from an unknown gifter, although he had his suspicions.

All in all, it was a nice holiday, which came to an end far too quickly in his opinion.

_One, two, three, four._

"So, Harry, I heard that you successfully cast your Patronus before the holiday," stated Lupin.

"Yes, sir," he replied.

"Do you know what it is?"

"Some kind of large cat."

Lupin looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"A large cat?"

"Yes, sir, I didn't get a very good look at it before I _passed out_, but it was a large feline," he shrugged.

"I see. May you cast it so that I can have a look?" the man asked.

"Why?" Koschei tilted his head slightly to the left in confusion.

He sighed, rubbing his hand on the back of his head.

"A person's Patronus can you tell a lot about someone," he paused, "I'm... curious."

Harry thought for a moment, before shrugging and pointing his wand at the ground in front of himself.

"_Expecto Patronum_."

A large silver feline burst out, just as he remembered, what he didn't remember however was the _six legs_ the creature had.

"_Bloody hell_!" Lupin swore, backing into the wall.

Harry looked at the man, slight surprise coloured his face at the man's language. He rested his hand on the head of his Patronus, which had sat next to him.

"Harry, do you know what that is?"

"No?"

"Harry, that's a _Wampus cat_."

"Oh."

_One, two, three, four._

"The Wampus cat can walk on its hind legs and outrun arrows. It is fast, strong, and almost impossible to kill. A Wampus cat's yellow eyes are thought to have the power of Hypnosis and Legilimency."

Koschei gaped at Hermione as she read the passage from the book from her Care of Magical Creatures class.

"They are light brown and white and share size with mountain lions and cougars. The American school, Ilvermorny, has a house named after them."

Harry just kept gaping at this information.

_One, two, three, four._

"Oh, Harry, _it's terrible_!" Hermione cried as she launched herself at him.

"I'm sorry, what have I missed?" he questioned, attempting to shut his book.

That week there had been another break-in from Sirius Black, he'd been caught with a_ knife_ raised above the head of Ronald Weasley.

"They're going to_ kill_ Buckbeak!"

Koschei blinked.

"_Who_?"

With that question, Harry found himself being dragged from his corner in the library down to Hagrid's hut.

Harry hadn't seen the friendly half-giant since the beginning of the year, as he went down every few months for a cup of tea with Hermione. But studies, reading, and the occasional life-threatening situation kept him busy for the most part.

Harry could just about see a Hippogriff tied to a tree in the man's garden.

Hermione reached into his pocket and took out his invisibility cloak, throwing it over them. Taking his hand, Hermione dragged him over to the creature.

Koschei took one look at the rope, rolled his eyes, then cast a quiet, "_Diffindo_," causing the rope to break.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted a rat, followed closely by Crookshanks, which was then followed by the youngest male Weasley.

"_What the_?" he murmured, as Hermione ushered Buckbeak into the forest.

Harry watched with narrowed eyes as the boy caught his rat.

That was_ not_ a normal rat.

A massive jet-black dog burst into the clearing, quickly latching onto the boy's arm and dragging him towards the forest.

Harry and Hermione looked at each other for a second.

"I'll go get the idiot; you go back an hour to get back to the castle without anyone seeing. Then wait in the closet closest to the entrance?" he questioned, noticing that the Hippogriff had gone.

She gave a wary glance at where the dog had gone, before sighing and nodding.

"Don't get yourself killed?" she asked, stepping out from under his cloak.

"I'll try!" he spoke cheerfully, before wandering off down the path he'd seen the dog drag the boy.


	16. Chapter 16

Following the path, the dog had taken the redhead, he saw a leg poking out of the roots of the Whomping Willow. He struggled to remain where he was before he was ultimately dragged through the gap.

Koschei rolled his eyes, following closely, slipping past the entrance just before the roots sealed themselves.

He followed the tunnels down and around, walking for what seemed to be an eternity, with his back slightly bent, until it began to incline and twist.

Then it opened out into a room. It was disorganised, dusty, and breaking apart, a door to his right was slightly open.

Going through the door was a hallway, one with boarded up windows and torn up furniture, and at the end of the hallway another open door.

Ignoring the state of the building, Harry quickly rushed to the door. Stepping inside, he saw on the floor, Ronald Weasley, with an_ obviously broken_ leg.

Harry watched, with a detached sort of amazement as the dog shifted into a man, Sirius Black, who then towered over the boy.

"_Where is he_?" he spoke, _madness_ strong in his voice, which made Koschei flinch back slightly.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Ron cried.

"The rat!_ The rat_! _Where_ is he?" he looked around wildly, before focusing on a twitching in the boy's robe pocket, "There you are, _Peter,_ why don't you come out and _play_?"

The boy's rat, darted out of his pocket, attempting to make a break for it, dodging as Sirius leapt at him.

The rat would have made it out, had Koschei not plucked him up.

"A rat, huh? I just thought you had it out for redheads," he spoke, as he removed his cloak.

Sirius Black gaped at him as he cast a quick stunning spell on the rat.

"_Harry_!" he cried out in shock, "I mean, I'm sorry, hear me out, I _didn't_ kill your parents," the man fell to his knees and almost begged him. "I_ didn't_ kill those muggles,_ I didn't kill_-"

"Yes, _I know_."

"You, I,_ what_?"

"I got access to the case files so I could do my own research, it_ stinks_ of a cover-up," he spoke bluntly.

"_I_-"

The door slammed open and Professor Lupin burst in.

The man looked around at the rather_ odd_ scene. There was a scruffy man on his knees in front of a thirteen-year-old, who was holding a _stunned rat_ carelessly from his hand. All while a boy with a broken leg watched on in horror from the side.

"_Wow_, I think this is the first time a teacher has shown up at one of these end of year life-threatening situations," Harry joked.

Lupin turned to look at Koschei, then stared at the rat in his hand.

"Is that?" he questioned numbly.

"Yes," replied Sirius.

"Did you... _Switch_ without telling me?"

Sirius nodded, looking _extremely_ guilty.

"_What am I going to do with you_?" he sighed.

Harry scratched his face before he spoke.

"So, this rat is_ what_ exactly? Its strings are way too carefully aligned to be an _actual_ rat."

"_Strings_?" the three other people asked, including Ronald who seemed to be in a mild state of shock.

"Not important, ask Hermione later."

Lupin gave a confused nod.

"That rat, it's Peter Pettigrew, an unregistered Animagus," stated Sirius.

"I see," Koschei tilted his head to the side, "Is there a way to prove this?"

The Professor nodded, taking out his wand, he pointed it at the still stunned rat and spoke a spell so quietly that he didn't hear it.

A blue-white light erupted from the wand, encasing the rat and forcing it to take a human shape.

"_I've been sleeping with that in my bed_?" cried out Ron in a panic.

"_Gross_."

The redhead glared at the Ravenclaw.

And then Snape arrived, and all hell broke loose.

_One, two, three, four._

Lupin was floating a knocked-out Snape, while also supporting Ron, who had a broken leg. Harry was carrying the rat in his pocket, which they'd forced back into rat form for easier carrying. He'd then stunned him, tied him up with rope, then wrapped him in tape for good measure.

_Then the clouds parted._

"Bollocks," Koschei stated.

Lupin gaped at him, "You_ know_?"

"Yes, you're not exactly actively hiding it."

"Why am I not surprised?" muttered Sirius.

"What's going on now?" cried Ron.

"Professor Lupin's a werewolf, _Ronald_."

The boy began to pale and pull away from the man, who lost concentration and dropped Snape.

"_Run_!" Sirius urged them to flee. He then transformed into his dog form and ran circles around Lupin as he finished his own transformation.

The dog gained the attention of the werewolf, urging it into the forest.

Harry noted with a slight panic that he was running into an area infested with Dementors but could do nothing about it for the moment.

Instead, he began levitating Snape and offered support to Ronald and made his way into the hospital wing.

_One, two, three, four._

"Hermione, I need to borrow your Time-Turner," Koschei stated.

"_Why_?"

"Turns out Sirius Black is innocent, being chased by our werewolf Professor and has run into Dementor infested forest."

Hermione blinked, then handed over the small globe.

"Oh, and before I forget," he passed the bound and taped rat to her, "Take this to Professor McGonagall. Tell her that it's a man who's been pretending to be Ronald Weasley's rat, who has been _sleeping in his bed_. Also, tell her to get law enforcement to give him veritaserum and ask about a secret keeper and thirteen dead muggles."

"Uh, okay?" Hermione stared at the rat in confusion and slight disgust, "_Is it really a man_?"

"Yes."

She made a disturbed face and Harry disappeared in a swirl of golden strings.

_It felt like home._

_One, two, three, four._

Harry pulled his invisibility cloak close to his body as he made his way through the forbidden forest. He stopped by the entrance to the Whomping Willow and waited there until he saw himself come out. Ignoring the _extreme_ sense of discomfort, he had at that, Koschei followed at a distance.

He then followed as the dog and wolf ran through the forest, the dog losing the wolf. He watched as the dog returned to being Sirius Black, who stumbled out next to a lake.

One that was occupied by a_ large_ group of Dementors.

The man froze, staring as the creatures drew closer to him, taking his energy from him, along with his happiness.

"_Expecto Patronum_!" Harry cried out, watching as the great silver cat danced out of his wand, driving the creatures away.

Koschei turned to look at the now unconscious man. He sighed, then levitated him away from the forest.

_One, two, three, four._

By the time Harry had gotten back to the school, Pettigrew had been arrested and Sirius had been pardoned.

Which was great news, for everyone involved, apart from Snape.

Madam Pomfrey seemed amused as he levitated the unconscious man into a bed.

"You know, Mister Potter, I had expected you to be the one here."

He gave a slight snort of amusement.

"_Yeah_? So did I."

_One, two, three, four._

Hermione had dropped Divination and Muggle Studies, leaving just the three subjects.

As such, she didn't need the Time-Turner anymore.

But Harry wasn't prepared to hand the device over to the Ministry, the small glass sphere bringing a comfort of home to him.

As such, he'd explained to Professor McGonagall how he'd borrowed it, what he'd borrowed it for and just how it had been _broken._

He'd said it had been smashed as he'd run through the forest to get to Sirius before the Dementors gave him the kiss.

It wasn't broken, but she didn't need to know that.

He'd offered to pay for it, which had settled any problems that may have arisen.

Running a finger down the side of the device that hung around a chain on his neck, Koschei smiled.

_One, two, three, four._

"So, Harry, do you want to stay with me?" questioned Sirius.

He winced slightly, turning to face the man who'd caught him in the hall, as he was making his way to his dorm for some last-minute packing.

And, to get himself to _finally_ return that damned book.

"I'm sorry, Sirius, I travel during the summer holiday," he saw as the man seemed to lose hope in himself, panicking slightly, he spoke once again, "_But_! You're welcome to join me."

The man perked up and Harry sighed in relief.

"_Okay_!"

And that was how Koschei got his first travelling companion.


	17. Chapter 17

Summer was a whirlwind of travelling.

Harry had decided to take Sirius to some warm countries so he could get a healthy tan, before stopping at Cardiff.

He was hoping that he'd bump into the Doctor so he could give him the present he'd gotten him for Christmas. Although he would make sure not to give it to him outright, because Theta didn't know him.

They'd first gone to Spain, the warm country, their nice foods, and their ideas for a midday nap time seemed just the thing that Sirius would need.

The man_ loved_ it.

They also visited Greece and Turkey, both countries hot with a lot of places to visit.

Koschei got the Grangers some good luck charms from Turkey and some local wine from Greece.

Sirius also attempted to cook while they were in Turkey, the two ended up with food poisoning, which lasted three days.

Harry banned him from cooking after that.

_One, two, three, four._

He was sat by himself on a bench, looking like the world had been stolen from him when Koschei saw him.

He felt_ guilt_ and knew instinctively that he was the reason that this look on his face. It had obviously not been long since he had-

"Are you alright?"

The Doctor looked up, startled slightly and stared at the boy who sat next to him.

He opened his mouth, closed it, then stared at him for a moment before he spoke, "You're that boy who ran into me two years ago."

Harry blushed and shook his head.

He grinned slightly at his embarrassment, "I do hope you're not running into any more people."

His blush deepened, "Only my sister," he muttered, "But in my defence, she's an _entire_ head taller than me."

The Doctor gave a slight hum as he scrutinised him, "Seems to me like it's not _that_ hard to be taller than you."

"I come over to see if you're alright and this is the thanks I get?" he pouted before he grinned.

Theta snorted and he grinned wider.

"I,_ no,_ it's nothing."

"Well, it's obviously not nothing, but I understand that you don't want to talk about it."

They sat there for a while until Koschei got up.

"Well, I have to go, don't want my godfather giving himself food poisoning by trying to cook," Harry muttered to himself, getting up, "Try to smile more,_ yeah_?"

The Doctor stared at him as he walked away, shaking his head when he was out of sight.

He slumped over slightly, his hand rolling onto the bench where the boy had been. His head turned to look at his hand as he felt it hit an object.

A small box wrapped in blue.

He picked it up and opened it. Inside the box was a small object that looked like a snow globe, it's base was coated with clouds, the inside was dark.

He shook it and was rewarded with the Orion belt.

The Doctor blinked, before noticing a scrap of paper at the bottom, which he picked it up and read.

His hands shook slightly.

_'I'm sorry.'_

It was written in _hauntingly familiar_ handwriting.

And following it was a phone number.

_One, two, three, four._

Harry's phone gave a beep, groaning, he reached over to the bedside table where he kept it.

He looked at the screen and saw a text from an unknown number.

'_What have you done_?'

He broke out into a soft grin.

'_Have you ever heard of reincarnation, Theta_?'


	18. Chapter 18

After three years of education at Hogwarts, Harry and Hermione had grown immune to most surprises that could have been thrown their way.

That's not to say that nothing could surprise them, for they definitely could be surprised.

"It is with great regret that I inform you that Quidditch will be cancelled this year."

About half of the hall cried in outrage. Koschei watched as the headmaster waited for the student body to calm before, he addressed them once more.

"Instead, this year Hogwarts will become host to the Triwizard Tournament."

Harry wasn't excited for this year.

_One, two, three, four._

_'While I was aware of reincarnation existing before now, I have decided, now that I know someone who is-was reincarnated, that reincarnation is strange.'_

Harry snorted at the text he received.

_'You try being the one who was reincarnated then. I can promise you it's about ten times weirder than just reading about it.'_

It was awhile before the next message came through.

_'This book that you sent me, it mentions that you can gain back your memories, but they come slowly. How much do you remember if you don't mind me asking?'_

Harry sighed, rubbing his hand against his face before replying.

_'Honestly, not much. I remember about five years of our childhood together. I remember going completely insane, but nothing else to do with that. I also remember... Offing... Myself...'_

Nothing came through for five minutes, until.

_'I'm sorry'_

_'It's not your fault.'_

_One, two, three, four._

Sneaking into the school library was a hobby for Harry by now.

At two in the morning, he carefully stepped out into the large halls and silently worked his way down to his favourite room in the building.

Once reaching it, he worked his way over to the runes section.

He had work to do, a runic sequence which would be placed where the cup would be, which would prevent anyone from putting in a name that was not their own.

It would have to be placed before the cup was lit, to ensure a name wouldn't be put in at the start. But it would also need to be in the exact spot the cup would be put down.

He gave a slight grin as he pulled out a book titled _Fraud Prevention with Runes_.

It was a good job he had a Time-Turner.

_One, two, three, four._

Koschei grumbled as he worked his way to the hospital wing.

_Somehow_ Madam Pomfrey had gotten wind that he might need _therapy_ and had scheduled a meeting between the two to see what could be done.

Sighing, he entered the hospital wing and walked over to the healer's office and knocked.

"Come in."

He entered the room, closing the door behind himself.

"Ah, Mister Potter, right on time," she looked at him, before gesturing to the seat across from her, "Please, take a seat."

He did as she asked, before turning to look at the woman.

"Now, do you know why you're here?"

"I'm assuming it has something to do with Hermione's insistence that I see a therapist?"

She chuckled, "You would be correct, Mister Potter."

Harry sighed, accepting a mug of tea as she offered it.

"Now, Mister Potter. How have you been feeling recently?"

_One, two, three, four._

Their new Defence teacher was acting _weird._

Oh, sure, he was weird before, but this just took it to a whole new level.

He now _refused_ to drink from anything that wasn't his flask with a drink he'd gotten from somewhere that wasn't the school's house elves.

The man took a perverse pleasure in using the _Cruciatus_ and_ Killing_ Curse on a spider, and in _Imperio-ing_ the students.

Koschei, however, learnt from this activity that his 'natural mind defences' were a lot stronger than he first assumed, the large group of students all watched as the teacher went soaring through the air, only to land on a solid oak table, which _broke_ under the force with a loud _crack._

The man was rendered unconscious and they had to get Madam Pomfrey into the room to help him.

The Defence class was cancelled for the next two days.

But Harry saw his strings. Saw that they almost repelled away from his body, like two magnets, with their south ends facing each other, yet being forced closer.

It looked_ wrong._

_So very wrong._

_One, two, three, four._

_'I'm not dead!'_

_'Are you going to do this every day?'_

Harry grinned.

_'The more you know I'm alive, the less you have to worry about be being dead again.'_

It was ten minutes before he received a response.

_'I'm a bit preoccupied right now, Koschei, I'll have to message you back later.'_

_'Alright, but don't die.'_

_'Shouldn't I be saying that to you?'_

_'Probably.'_


	19. Chapter 19

Harry hadn't watched the two other schools arrive, thus was surprised when he ran straight into a tall blonde girl.

"Sorry, miss!" he spoke, as he took a step back and craned his neck up to look at her face.

He_ really_ hated being the short person.

"Oh mon- What a cute child!"

He frowned.

"I'm _not_ cute," he protested.

The girl ignored him and grabbed his hand, dragging him down the hall.

"Come, _come_, you _must_ meet my friends."

And so, Harry was dragged into a swarm of French girls, who all thought he was cute.

They'd put his now just over shoulder-length hair into a low ponytail, though, and Koschei found he quite_ liked_ it up like that.

He was just glad it was a Saturday.

"You know, I am rather surprised zat you are able to resist my charms," the girl, known as Fleur, who he'd found out was a quarter-Veela said to him.

"Ah, _well_, you see, I have someone that I like," he stumbled over his words, blushing slightly, "I've liked him for a long time."

The girl made a sound of surprise.

"You 'ave a mate! _Already_? _Comme __c'est__ mignon_!"

Harry blushed deeper at that statement, not knowing how to respond to it. Ignoring the debate on if humans had mates or not from the girls.

_One, two, three, four._

After meeting the Beauxbatons girls, he didn't think the Durmstrang boys would be too intimidating.

Of course, he didn't expect them to be so wide built, or so tall.

They'd surrounded him by accident as he was making his way to the bathroom, none of them seemed to notice that they'd caught a short boy in their midst.

Until he was pulled out of the group by the back of his shirt, that was.

Koschei looked up to who the hand was connected to and vaguely recognised the boy as the Bulgarian Seeker, Viktor Krum.

"Boys, vere you not told to Check vere you are going? You caught a _tiny boy_ in your rampage!" he spoke quickly to the group of giant boys who'd turned to look at them.

The boys all looked reasonably embarrassed.

Krum put him down, pat his head and passed him a lollipop he'd pulled out of his pocket.

"Small ones should not be left alone in such big place as Hogwarts," he stated, before walking off with the group of boys.

Harry was left_ extremely_ confused.

_One, two, three, four._

They'd held a feast in the name of those two schools that night, where the headmaster, Dumbledore, unveiled the cup.

As soon as the cup was set down, a runic equation burst into life right under it.

"It seems that someone has taken precaution already," the man stated in bewilderment, "A Fraud Protection rune?"

A few minutes passed in awkward silence before he turned to the hall.

"The runes you see before you prevent someone from entering another person's name. Not a bad addition, I will say that."

An age line joined the rune in the prevention area.

Koschei sighed and rubbed at his Time-Turner, turning to look at where he knew his past self was hidden under his invisibility cloak. Waiting to turn his glass globe to add in the runes.

Harry was glad that what could have been a major issue was now averted.

_One, two, three, four._

The following day during the Halloween feast, the cup chose the champions for the Triwizard tournament.

A flash of bright red flames threw a small piece of parchment out into the awaiting hands of Dumbledore.

"The champion for Durmstrang is _Viktor Krum_!"

The hall erupted into cheers, only dying down when the cup spat out another parchment piece, accented by yet more flames.

"The champion for Beauxbatons is_ Fleur Delacour_!"

More cheering, only dying down for the third bout of flames.

"The champion for Hogwarts is _Cedric Diggory_!"

With the last champion called out and ushered into a chamber off the side of the great hall, the cheering grew to an extremely loud volume of sound.

Then the cup burst into flames again and the sound cut off.

The flames struggled for a moment and the students all watched as the runes inscribed on the floor under the cup began to glow a bright blue.

A fourth piece of parchment fell out, charred and blackened, and when the headmaster touched it, it fell to ashes.

"Well, that was rather unexpected."

Harry was suddenly _very _glad that he'd decided to add that rune sequence in.

_One, two, three, four._

_'Not dead, but there are Dragons outside!'_

_'What?'_

_'Yeah, three of them!'_

_'Wait, do they actually breathe fire?'_

_'Hell yeah!'_

_'Koschei, do not stick your head in its mouth.'_

_'Spoilsport.'_

_One, two, three, four._

November 24th came around quickly, the tree champions had soon realised that the tournament was truly a life or death type situation.

Harry and Hermione sat at the edge of the seating area. Along with the other people who wanted to support all three of the champions, not favouring any of them.

Koschei had managed to get that Colin boy from Gryffindor, the one who took photos, to take some pictures of the dragons for him. He was paying him a Galleon per photo he picked out, as to encourage him to take the best shots he could get.

Honestly, he had no true concept of how wizarding money worked, just that a _Galleon_ was worth more than the others.

The photos he picked out would be sent to Theta with Artemis.

The entire event took about three and a half hours to finish, by which time, Harry had almost fallen asleep twice. Hermione kept him awake by_ slapping_ the back of his head.

He had _no idea_ who was winning.


	20. Chapter 20

Unlike the previous two years, Christmas passed by with a slight difference.

The days leading up to Christmas day were spent at Sirius and Remus's cottage on the moors. The days were peaceful, apart from Remus' threatening of Sirius if he didn't _pick up his damned underwear._

On Christmas eve, they'd been given the option of going to the_ Yule Ball_ or_ the Grangers._

The two picked the Grangers.

So, on Christmas day, they ended up at the Granger household, shared a Christmas, much like the previous two.

When Sirius and Remus went back home, Harry remained with Hermione, Scott and Emily for the rest of the winter holiday.

For his gifts, he'd gotten Hermione the oldest looking book he could find and a silver locket, with a picture of the two inside. For Scott and Emily, he got some more wine and chocolates. Sirius received a leather jacket and a book on _how to pick up girls_, which he'd spluttered at. For Remus, he got some chocolate, a year's supply of Wolfsbane and a set of muggle fantasy books.

Then for Theta, he'd gotten together a collection of wizarding knick-knacks, books and sweets.

In return he got another Ravenclaw themed hoodie, this time with a zip and a packet of hair bands from Scott and Emily. Some more GCSE revision guides and an advanced physics workbook from Hermione. Sirius broke and got him a nerdy _muggle science_ set, which he set up in a spare room in his cottage. Remus had managed to get a hold of some more dangerous chemicals for said science set as his gift.

And the Doctor had gotten him a_ smartphone,_ straight from 2018's Japanese magical market.

Koschei was pleasantly surprised at that and put it to good use by immediately bombarding Theta with pictures of Artemis playing with the freshly fallen snow.

All in all, it was a great Christmas.

_One, two, three, four._

On the 24th of February, the second task commenced.

Most of the crowd looked at what was going to be happening and then left.

After all, none of them was able to see into the_ depths of the water_ to watch the champions battle their way to their hostages.

Hermione decided that they would do the nice thing and wait by the shore with warm blankets and hot chocolate. So that when the champions and the people they had to rescue emerged from the water they could warm up.

Harry grumbled about it for a while, until Hermione's elbow found its way into his ribs.

So, with the help of a strong warming charm, he and Hermione sat by the shore. They both ignored the approving looks being thrown at them by the judges and Madam Pomfrey.

Just over an hour later, the first champion made it to the shore with his hostage, Cedric and Cho Chang.

Hermione helped them over to the side, where she wrapped them in the blankets.

Koschei walked over with a mug of hot chocolate for each of them, which they accepted gratefully.

The next two people up were Viktor Krum and, surprisingly, Ginny Weasley.

The two were given the same treatment, then they sat to wait for Fleur to return with her hostage.

But she didn't.

After two hours had passed since the start of the task, the judges ended it and went in search of the missing girl and her hostage.

After half an hour they were found, _bruised_ and_ bloodied_, but still very much alive, although they needed to be rushed to the hospital wing.

And thus, ended the second task.

_One, two, three, four._

_'Not dead!'_

_'I'm glad!'_

_'Hi, Glad.'_

_'No.'_

_'I'm-'_

_'Koschei, no.'_

_'Koschei.'_

_'Why must you make me suffer like this?'_

_'Oh, shut it, you know you love me just the way I am.'_

_'Touché.'_

_One, two, three, four._

On the 24th of June, the third task was set to begin.

Harry would have gone and watched it, but he was too busy getting _kidnapped._

"So, do you do this sort of thing often?" Harry questioned, as he struggled in his captor's arms.

The Moody impostor just grunted, attempting to restrain him so that he could not move.

He moved Koschei's struggling arms into one hand and reached the other into a pocket, fishing out a piece of paper. Holding the paper to his skin, the two were whisked away in a swirl of blinding colours.

When the two landed, Harry quickly pushed away from the man, bringing his leg up, he kicked the man in his crotch, then his ribs. The man stumbled down, and he kicked him again, this time in his head, knocking him unconscious.

He couldn't bring himself to care.

A _hissing_ voice called out from somewhere, "_Quick, stun him before he can get away_."

Narrowing his eyes, he moved to the left as a stunning spell fired in his direction.

Pulling out his wand, he listened carefully, attempting to pick up the sounds of his hidden enemy's movement.

A snap of a branch and Harry cast a stunning spell, hitting something, _someone._

He walked over and looked down.

A blond man stared up at him in anger and he recognised the man as Draco Malfoy's father.

A grin stretched across his face as he pointed his wand down.

"_Diffindo_."

The blond_ screamed_ in agony, but Harry ignored it and turned to find the source of the hissing.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a snake about to launch itself at him, but it was nothing a quick, "_Bombarda_," couldn't fix.

He walked through the graveyard he'd been taken to as slowly as he could, taking in every little detail as he scanned the area for the voice he'd heard.

And eventually, he found it.

It was _disgusting,_ it looked like a cross between a _human baby_ and an_ albino snake_ in the _worst_ way possible. Its features were_ deformed_ and yet it spoke as though it were an adult.

It would be fascinating if it weren't so _gross._

He listened to it taunt him for about five minutes before he blew it up.

Harry watched in mild interest as the same black smoke he'd seen escaping from Quirrell's body in his first year emerged from the baby thing.

He turned back and looked at the mess that had been made of the graveyard, then shrugged and walked down the road.

_One, two, three, four._

_'Hey, so I got kidnapped.'_

_'What.'_

_'It's okay, I got away unharmed. They did not.'_

_'Where are you?'_

_'I don't know.'_

_'Do you need help?'_

_'Probably.'_

_One, two, three, four._

Harry was sat under a tree close to the roadside, half asleep when he felt himself being picked up. His sleep-addled mind panicked and he reached out to hit whatever random threat it had thought up.

"You have _mud_ in your hair."

The familiar voice calmed him, and he began to drift off back into sleep.

"_Oi,_ no sleeping until you have a shower, you're _covered_ in dirt."

"_Don't have clothes,_" Harry mumbled into his shoulder.

"I probably have _something_ that will fit you," replied the Doctor.

One shower and a change of clothes later, Koschei fell asleep on a sofa, curled up into the Doctor's side.

_One, two, three, four._

Harry returned to Hogwarts three days after he went missing.

After telling the Aurors that he'd been kidnapped and after providing memory proof, he told them that he'd called one of his muggle friends for help. They'd let him go after that.

Because his school clothes had been _destroyed_ during the kidnapping attempt. No one commented on the fact he wasn't wearing the uniform.

His clothes, courtesy of the Doctor consisted of a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt with a white cat on it, a blue zip-up hoodie, which was lined with black faux fur went over the top and a pair of blue Nike shoes completed the look.

Harry had to admit the clothes were quite comfy.


	21. Chapter 21

At the beginning of the summer, Harry took Sirius and Remus to Italy.

They had made him promise to only go for two weeks so that they could throw him a birthday party, which they would need time to plan.

Harry hadn't understood why they wanted to throw him a party. He told them that and the two had been horrified to learn that he hadn't had a _true_ birthday since James and Lily were still alive.

So, he agreed.

The three spent most of their time looking at tourist attractions, such as the canals and relaxing in their hotel.

Then Harry found a magical marketplace, which was mainly a tourist attraction area.

Harry's Italian was quite rusty, but he believed the name translated to _Nightshade Street_ or something similar.

While looking at the area, the three decided to split up to look at more shops.

Harry found some cool looking bits and pieces that he could give to Hermione, her parents and Theta as gifts.

_One, two, three, four._

Upon return to England, Harry re-discovered smoking.

He recognised that his past life had, at multiple points, smoked various things, from cigars to pipes. He was well aware of their addictive properties and the fact that they could cause various lung issues, yet he didn't care.

He'd picked up a packet of cigarettes in a fit of morbid curiosity and came to the rather frustrating conclusion that he actually enjoyed the drag of smoke.

Remus grew horrified when he'd learnt of Harry's newest and most unhealthy habit and had immediately attempted to put a stop to it, an endeavour that had backfired when he'd begun replacing the man's chocolate with chilli infused bars of chocolate.

Sirius, while less against his godson's habits considering he'd been drinking at the boy's age and had also tried smoking, although he hadn't liked it, had been pulled into said efforts by Remus, he stopped the first time Harry replaced his coffee with decaf.

Remus continued for two weeks in his attempts to get Harry to stop smoking before he finally conceded to defeat when Harry slipped laxatives into that month's Wolfsbane potion in a way that didn't disrupt the potion's original effects.

_One, two, three, four._

_'Hey, do you want to come to my birthday party?'_

Harry was laying on his bed in the cottage, the room was done up in Ravenclaw colours and was altogether a comfortable looking and feeling room.

_'I thought you didn't do birthdays.'_

His mouth twitched upwards in a half-smile.

_'Well, no, but my godfather and honorary uncle insisted after finding out my relatives never held one for me.'_

_'Well, I suppose I'd have to meet your new family one day.'_

At least his birthday would end up being interesting.

_One, two, three, four._

The day of his birth came around rather quickly.

He'd let Sirius, Remus and Hermione know that he'd invited someone he knew, and they were all wondering who it was.

Hermione arrived early in the morning and had made herself right at home.

The first thing that she did when she saw him smoking was to begin scolding him, after all, it was really bad for your health to smoke.

Harry listened to this for an entire five minutes before he let her know about Sirius's addiction to coffee and Remus's extreme chocolate snacking, causing her to go on a rant about caffeine and sugar destroying teeth. She was, after all, a dentist's daughter.

After Hermione's impromptu lecture, they had a nice breakfast, then at eleven, the Doctor arrived.

Harry pulled the man inside and sat him down on one of the sofas.

Sirius, Remus and Hermione all gawked at the tall, brown-haired man.

"Hello," he said cheerfully, ignoring the tension in the room.

"Harry, when you said you were inviting a friend, I thought you meant another child?" spoke Remus.

"Have you not told them?" Theta asked him in surprise.

"Er,_ no_."

Then they spent an hour explaining how he had been reincarnated.

_One, two three, four._

After he'd explained, there was an awkward silence for about five minutes, until Sirius spoke.

"Well, that explains why you're so short."

Harry looked up at him.

"_What_?"

"Well, yeah. I know that books on reincarnation are really rare, but I remember finding one in the Black library when I was younger and reading it."

They were all looking at the Animagus, who gave an awkward cough before continuing.

"If I remember correctly, the book said that magic forces a person's growth to be stunted if they're a reincarnation to avoid placing stress on the body and the soul at the same time."

Harry gave a hum, leaning back in his chair in thought

"So, the reason that I'm four foot eleven is that magic thinks I can't handle both growing and existing as a new person at the same time?"

"Pretty much."

"Taller than a twelve-year-old, but smaller than a thirteen-year-old," joked the Doctor, until Harry smacked his arm. "Ow."

"_Shut up_."


	22. Chapter 22

It seemed, at least in Harry's eyes that these opening feasts grew more obnoxious with each year.

He stifled a groan as the toadesque woman who'd been hired as their Defence teacher that year attempted to make a speech to the school.

Tapping a familiar tune onto the table, he wondered just who had thought that the woman would make a suitable educational teacher? A teacher in the arts of_ kiss-arsery_,_ possibly_, but otherwise?

Her meaningless words continued to spill forth out of her mouth and Koschei let his head slam down on the oak table under him. The sound causing housemates closest to him to jump and stare at him in surprise.

Dammit, this woman was _such a-_

Harry couldn't quite_ remember_ the word he _wanted_ to use to describe her, but it _wasn't_ in good taste.

And now he had a headache, _great._

_One, two, three, four._

_'Koschei.'_

A soft beep awoke Harry, scowling, he picked up his phone and looked at the screen.

_'What do you want, it's like three in the morning.'_

_'So, you don't shower at this time anymore?'_

He could almost_ hear_ the teasing tone of his voice.

_'If that's all I'll be going back to sleep now.'_

_'Wait, no, I wanted to tell you I found out how tall you'll end up being and when you finish growing!'_

_'Isn't there a law against telling me that or something?'_

He couldn't be bothered to attempt to remember laws he only had vague_ feelings_ of while half asleep, after all.

_'Well, there's not really anything you can do to stop yourself growing and I doubt you'd attempt to make yourself shorter.'_

_'Yeah, okay, fine, can you just tell me so I can get back to sleep? I know you don't need much of it, but I'm a human now and do need it.'_

_'Alright, alright, you end up at five foot seven and you finish growing at twenty-five.'_

_'Remember when I was taller than you?'_

_'Yes?'_

_'Let's go back to that.'_

_'You wish.'_

_One, two, three, four._

Koschei was grouchy, according to Hermione, his inability to leave the castle at any time to go for a smoke made him irritable, and at that moment, he was not in the mood to deal with _anyone_.

"_Oi_, Potter."

Harry gave a quiet groan and grit his teeth before turning to face a certain blond _pain in the rear._

"_What_?" he snapped out.

The boy got up into his personal space, waving his fist in Harry's face.

"You'll_ pay_ for what you did to my father, Potter," he attempted to hiss menacingly at him.

To Koschei, this was just a_ poor imitation_ of an irate kitten.

"I'm afraid," he paused to stare blankly up at the boy, "I don't quite know what you're on about,_ Draco_."

"You _castrated_ him!" his face grew a bright shade of crimson.

"Mister Malfoy, I'm afraid the only person I've_ ever_ castrated was someone who was an _accomplice to my kidnapping_ last year. He wore a _white mask_ and a _black cloak_. Are you telling me that your _father_ was this man?"

The blond seemed to grow more enraged but could not act upon his anger with the rest of the students in the hall.

"But you_ admit_ to castrating someone?" an older Gryffindor student queried.

"Only in self-defence. He was attempting to cause harm to my person, so I retaliated with a perfectly legal spell, _Diffindo_."

The older student nodded, "You used a legal spell in self-defence. Whoever your attacker was will be unable to press charges, even if it was Mister Malfoy's father. I'm sure that even if he _were_ to press charges, you would find a way to sort it all out, Mister Potter."

Throughout their exchange, Harry was watching the little Malfoy brat grow redder and redder.

It was quite _funny_, actually.

_One, two, three, four._

Sometimes Harry wondered if it would be so bad to let his previous insanity take him over once more.

It was a ridiculous thought, as he knew he would never allow himself to become the monster known as_ the Master_ again.

There would be overlaps of the personality that he just can't shake. As evidenced in his second year, where he'd gone on a manhunt for whatever had harmed Hermione.

The Basilisk head was still nicely preserved in his trunk.

But unlike before, he was _still Harry, still Koschei._

Still in_ control_ of himself.

But sometimes, much like now, he wondered if it would be so bad to just give in to the temptation and rip this damnable woman apart, limb by_ bloody_ limb.

"_No practising, it's not like any of you are ever going to be in this sort of danger. If you are then reading about it will tell you what you need to do_!"

Koschei would rather have _Theta_ teaching him to_ drive the TARDIS_ than this woman as a teacher, _bloody hell._

_One, two, three, four._

It was an absolutely normal Halloween, which was _unusual_ for Harry.

So, he was bored.

As with every time he's bored, Harry went to the library and looked around for any unusual books.

Turning a corner, he tripped, landing in a first-year Hufflepuff's mess of_ strings_ and was quickly bombarded with visions of _torturous detentions_ and _words engraved onto the wrists of children._

Wide-eyed, he snatched the first year's arm and pulled down the sleeve.

Written on his wrist, in messy, splotched writing.

_'I must not fall asleep in classes.'_

He ran a thumb over the fresh scab, ignoring the pained whimper from the boy.

Harry reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone and snapping a quick picture of the wound. He slid the device back in and turned to look at the boy.

"I'm sorry this happened to you."

The boy nodded and ran out of the library, tears in his eyes, ignoring the librarian's warnings to walk not run.

A dark expression clouded Harry's face and he returned to his dorm room.

He needed advice.


	23. Chapter 23

"I must not fall asleep in classes," Harry whispered under his breath as he paced his dorm room, phone in hand.

_'A teacher is doing this to students in detention, Doctor, what do I do?'_

_'Can you report this to your school's headteacher?'_

_'I could, but the damned woman was put into place by the Ministry, not the school. There's nothing he can do!'_

The dorms were made up of two students per room, Koschei wasn't ashamed to admit that he'd made_ no_ attempts to get to know his dorm mate, a Terry Boot or something.

_'Can you report it to the Ministry?'_

_'I don't know, I'm not sure they'd take a complaint like that. They refused to see anything about Sirius until we captured the rat and got him hocked up on veritaserum.'_

_'I remember you saying about that.'_

Harry grumbled and kicked his bedpost, his dorm mate looked up at him, rolled his eyes and went back to reading.

_'I'm sure I'll think of something.'_

_'That's what I'm worried about.'_

_One, two, three, four._

His lessons with Umbridge became more strained after he met with those strings.

He sat as far away from the woman as he could, in the back, leaning his chin on his hand while writing her _useless_ information down to paper.

Honestly, with their OWLs fast approaching, you would think she'd be all for getting them to practice. _After all,_ you had to show that you could _cast_ the appropriate spell for any danger_ during the exams_. The Ministry wanted Hogwarts to look like the_ best_ school choice, _right_?

He kept his eyes trained on the woman who was pointing to a blackboard, obnoxious _pink_ chalk written across it. Making sure she wasn't looking; Harry snuck a cigarette out of his pocket and quickly shoved it between his lips.

It was rather simple to cast a small illusion charm to keep the woman from noticing him smoking, which gave him something other than plotting her untimely demise to concentrate on.

He watched as she gave one of his housemates detention for being a_ smart ass _and his eyes narrowed when he saw how the girl flinched slightly.

Yes, this woman_ needed_ to go.

_One, two, three, four._

Harry and Hermione had been excited about this Hogsmeade weekend.

At first, when Koschei had gotten the idea to Floo to the Leaky Cauldron from the Three Broomsticks, Hermione had been sceptical.

Because they were allowed four hours in Hogsmeade and were_ unsupervised_ since the teachers _did their own thing_. Harry believed they would be able to spend about an hour in London without any issues.

Hermione had been nervous about it.

"What if we're caught?" she questioned.

"No one told us we _couldn't_ go to the Leaky Cauldron and there are no _written_ rules against it._ I checked_," he replied.

So, with nerves high and an alibi of '_no one said we couldn't_' prepared, the two made their way to London.

_One, two, three, four._

When they landed in the Leaky Cauldron, they shuffled into their respected bathrooms and tugged on some casual clothes. Both wore jeans, but Hermione wore a woollen top, good for the weather, whereas Koschei wore a t-shirt and hoodie.

Hurrying out the door and into muggle London, they stopped at the curb's edge.

"So, meet back here in an hour?" she asked.

"Yeah."

Then they walked opposite ways, Hermione to a local bookshop and Harry to a local café.

He walked down the street for about five minutes before turning and entering a small building.

The bell chimed above his head and the scent of freshly brewed coffee calmed his nerves slightly.

He quickly scanned the tables, before spotting his oldest friend and walking over. He sat in the seat opposite of him and plopped his head down on the table.

"Rough day?"

"Try rough school year," he grumbled.

The Doctor chuckled, pushing a mug towards him.

"I took the liberty of ordering while I was waiting for you."

"Thank you," he muttered, bringing the warm cup of coffee to his lips and swallowing a mouthful.

He wiped his mouth on his sleeve, ignoring Theta's raised eyebrow.

"So, this woman," he started.

"Is awful, she hands out detentions for the smallest things and forces students to write with an object. Which unless it's for legal documents, it's _illegal_ to use. It's also_ illegal_ to own one for_ personal use_."

The Doctor's hand caught Koschei's head as he attempted to smack it on the table. He half-heartedly glared at the offending appendage, before smirking and leaning on it.

Theta narrowed his eyes and pulled his hand back, causing his head to smack the table with a dull thump.

Harry looked up at him, glaring at the playful twinge to his smile, before poking his tongue out at him.

"_Bastard_."

"But I'm _your_ bastard."

"So you are."

_One, two, three, four._

Harry and Hermione returned to the Leaky Cauldron an hour later. They quickly changed back into their school clothes and Flooing back to the Three Broomsticks.

No one saw them return.

Hermione was still a bit jittery as they walked through the small village.

Harry stopped in a small corner shop which typically sold alcohol, cigars and cigarettes and some rather questionable items such as drugs, to purchase a few more boxes of his favourite brand of cigarettes as he was beginning to run out of them. Hermione had given him a dirty look the entire time they were there.

They'd both gone and looked in the local bookshop too. Koschei worked his way to the history section and began skimming books, before stopping on a page and laughing.

The book was titled _The Wizard That Got Stuck in Time._

It was about the Doctor. The author of this book thought that he was some wizard that had gotten drunk, stolen a muggle object and was now stuck jumping from time to time with no way back.

"Oh, I have _got_ to get this for him," he muttered.

Walking to the desk the cashier was sat at, he passed the book over, ignoring the odd looks he was given from the staff members.

"That book?_ Really_?" the woman who was taking stock questioned as she looked over to the desk.

"It seems funny," he stated with a shrug.

And it really_ did._

_One, two, three, four._

The whole school had enough of this woman.

The Hufflepuffs had created a club for the whole school, just so they could practice their Defence spells.

Even the bloody_ Slytherins_ came.

That's how _bad_ the woman was.

Koschei watched the club from the sides, offering tips on the spells when asked, but generally left to his own devices.

They had _all_ had enough.

One night, in the middle of November, Koschei slipped his cloak on and left the Ravenclaw dorms.

He had it on good word that Umbridge would be patrolling that night.

So, he wandered until he found her.

Grinning, he kept a good distance away from her, following her as she walked her rounds then returned to her rooms.

He did this for three nights, one per week, whenever she was to patrol.

He memorised her path and the password to her room.

Standing across the hall from the portrait of a small white kitten, Harry grinned maliciously.

_One, two, three, four._

_'Hey, how do you think I could make a transfiguration permanent?'_

_'From what I have read? Runes, probably.'_

_'Of course, it's always the Runes.'_

_'Should I be worried.'_

_'Not at all.'_

_'The last time you said that Chemistry lab #22 blew up.'_

_'That was an accident!'_

_'Ushas had florescent green glue in her hair for weeks.'_

_'It was hilarious though, wasn't it?'_

Koschei could practically hear his sigh.

_'I suppose it was a little.'_

_'Only a little?'_

_'Okay, a lot.'_

_One, two, three, four._

The night before the winter break was hectic, as always. The students were rushing about, packing up their last-minute supplies before they'd head home the following day. Or helping their friends if they weren't going home.

Koschei had done his packing a day early, as he always did.

He sat on his bed, waiting for his dorm mate to fall into a deep sleep before tapping his trunk with his wand, shrinking it. He slipped the tiny trunk into his pocket and slipped on the invisibility cloak that was waiting on his bed.

Closing his eyes, he breathed in deeply, before exiting his room, slowly making his way through the winding labyrinth of the school.

He followed the path he remembered seeing that horrid woman walk. Left, left, up a flight of stairs, right, to the end of the corridor, another left, down some stairs and a right. There, in the middle of the deserted hallway, a portrait of a kitten.

This was it.

Harry pet the cat's chin and watched the door open.

With a grin, he stepped inside.


	24. Chapter 24

The winter break started quietly, with the students filing off for the break.

On the train, Harry and Hermione worked through their textbooks in silence. Koschei reading into his Runes and Hermione doing her Care of Magical Creatures work.

Once they reached the station, the two were picked up by Sirius and Remus and Apparated to their cottage.

After sorting out their belongings, having a shower, getting changed into clean clothes, and eating dinner, Harry stood up.

"I'll be working in my lab for the next few days, the experiment will be _quite_ volatile. If you need me, please text me and I will come out."

The three nodded, they were curious, Harry _never_ experimented during the first five days they were back. Whatever this was, it seemed important.

They watched as Koschei entered the door and locked it behind him.

"Want to bet there will be an explosion?" Remus asked.

"No way, at_ least_ three!" countered Sirius.

"It's volatile and he _knows_ it, so he'll be _extra_ careful. There might be some banging around, but no explosion."

The three stared at each other.

"A Galleon in?" Hermione asked.

The other two nodded.

_One, two, three, four._

Harry didn't come out for three days, when he did, he went straight in the shower, after burning his clothes. They had been a pair of thread worn jogging bottoms and a thin white t-shirt. A set he'd put aside just for working in the lab, nothing too special and not a big loss.

After that, he didn't touch his lab.

Hermione won the bet.

Two days after he'd come out of his lab, Remus's copy of The Daily Prophet arrived.

With it came some news that shocked and relieved Hermione. Sirius and Remus, who'd heard what she'd done to the children at the school were also quite relieved.

Dolores Umbridge had been reported missing and was believed to have been gone for more than _three days_ at that point.

Harry carefully hid a smirk in his cup of coffee.

_One, two, three, four._

"Hi, I would like to drop off a kitten I found."

The man sat behind the desk barely looks up as Harry speaks.

"Sure, just put it over there," he points over to the left, where a collection of cages sits, some empty, others not.

Koschei places a small brown kitten into one on the very bottom and silently leans closer towards the cat.

"Good luck, _Kitty_."

He pulls away, pulling a cigarette out from his pocket and placing it into his mouth, quickly pulling out a lighter, he shoots a feral grin at the terrified looking cat as he walks out of the door to the animal shelter, lighting the cigarette as he leaves.

_One, two, three, four._

Christmas day rolls around quickly and everyone shuffles over to the Granger's household once more.

Harry drapes himself over the love seat and watches as everyone ponders about, festive songs playing in the background. He hums as he watches as Sirius and Remus get caught under the mistletoe, the two kissed each other's cheeks in a friendly manner.

Soon after that ordeal, presents were handed out.

For Scott and Emily, Harry got his customary alcohol and chocolates. This year he also gave them a photo album full of pictures of Hermione at Hogwarts. The two had been_ extremely_ grateful for that.

For Hermione, a book on alchemy, as he'd seen her taking an interest in the subject while the two scoured the library. He'd also gotten her a whole bunch of crafting items, such as wool, threads, fabrics, and their assorted needles. He'd seen her knitting in the library a few times over the past year and noticed that she seemed to enjoy it.

For Sirius, it was a Queen t-shirt along with a couple of vinyls for his record player and another book on how to pick up girls called _The Idiot's Guide to Girls._

"_Oi_!" Sirius called out and smacked him in the head with it.

Harry grinned.

Remus got his year's supply of Wolfsbane, along with some chocolates and books. Harry also got him some classical records and a woollen jumper.

Theta got _The Wizard That Got Stuck in Time_, along with some biscuits he baked that he knew he liked, and a strange plant that changed colour every hour. Harry couldn't remember what it was called, he wasn't paying attention in Herbology.

Koschei got a blue shawl from Scott and Emily, Sirius told him it was girly, so he smacked him. Hermione got him two books, one on OWL revision and one on GCSE revision, as well as a box of mixed tea, which supposedly tasted like cake, he also received a locket in return for the one he'd gotten her the previous year.

Sirius got him a lot of pranking supplies, a lot of which worked through _muggle potions_, as he still called it. Remus got him a scarf, which he had the suspicious feeling that he'd made it himself, along with what appeared to be a box of reluctantly bought cigarettes.

Koschei grinned as Artemis flew through the window and landed on Sirius's head as they were eating their dinner. His cursing was met with slaps from Scott, Emily and Remus as he attempted to get the bird off him.

He raised his left arm and the owl flew over to him.

"_Damn bird_," Sirius huffed.

Harry poked his tongue out at him as he untied the parcel attached to his bird.

The Doctor sent him a set of an old novel series he remembered liking as a child in his first life, it was a detective drama series, a bit like Sherlock Holmes, _but in space_, he'd also gotten him a cape which looked suspiciously like one that his past life had owned once upon a time.

He watched as Hermione grew confused as she looked at the books.

"Harry, they're written in_ circle_," she stated.

Koschei grinned.

_One, two, three, four._

When Harry and Hermione returned to Hogwarts, it was to a full team of Aurors investigating the disappearance of Dolores Umbridge.

Each of the students that had been away for the holidays was taken off to a room to be questioned.

"When was the last time you saw Madam Umbridge?" he was being questioned by Madam Bones.

"I think it was the day before we left for the holidays."

She nodded, writing his answer on the sheet in front of her.

"Did you have anything against her?"

"Personally? No, she never did anything to me. Otherwise? Yes, her teaching was extremely poor, not to mention what those_ detentions_ did to those who ended up in one."

"What did happen to the ones that had detention with her?"

Koschei scowled, remembering words carved into that boy's wrist.

"_Blood quills_."

The woman looked up sharply.

"Are you sure, Mister Potter?"

He nodded, looking her in the eye.

"I saw a Hufflepuff first year's wrist, Ma'am. I remember what it said."

"What did it say?"

"_I must not fall asleep in class_."

The questioning continued for a while after that, but he was soon free to go.

The Aurors soon turned their attention towards the children who'd had detention with the woman. They quickly found proof of blood quills being used on them in the form of scarred or scabbed up words on their wrists.

After a week of investigating in the school, they left the building. They continued their work from their offices, even though the case had become a lot more complicated.

_One, two, three, four._

_'Hermione, please let Professor Flitwick know that I'll be late to class. The castle decided to shift its staircase from the first floor to the seventh, thank you.'_

_'Wrong person, Koschei.'_

_'Bugger.'_

Harry copied the text and sent it off to Hermione.

_'I'm sure you'd enjoy that, Kos.'_

Harry blushed a bright red at the teasing.

_'Oh, shut up, you.'_

He could just about hear him laughing.

_One, two, three, four._

After the OWL exams, Koschei and Hermione found themselves sitting in the library, away from prying eyes.

The two were reading novels, not wanting to truly take anything in after the hours of gruelling exam work, they'd had to do.

"I've decided I'm taking Sirius and Remus to Hawaii for the summer," Harry muttered, "Nowhere else, just somewhere I can let my brain melt a bit."

"_Ew_, melting brains," Hermione whispered back.

He snorted and she grinned at him.

"Think you have room for three more?"

"_Definitely_."

_One, two, three, four._

"_That damn Potter brat thinks he's above the laws just because he's the boy-who-lived, I'll show him_!" Umbridge growled out, "_First, I'll completely ruin his life, then I'll have him locked up in Azkaban_!"

"Mummy, look, that cat's singing!"

"No, Ashley, I think that one has _rabies_."

"Meow, mrow, meow, meeeeoooowww!" screeched a small brown cat.

"Oh, _shut up_," spoke the shelter volunteer, pushing a bowl of food into the cat's cage.

"_Potteeeeeeeeeerrrr_!"


	25. Chapter 25

Harry regretted making plans to sit his GCSEs a year early and in the first week back from Hogwarts.

Sure, it got them out of the way for his future, but the stress right after the OWLs was quite unneeded.

But he pushed on, refusing to give up.

Science, Maths, English, History, Geography, and Italian were the subjects he chose to be graded on.

He spent just over two weeks on his exams, one subject per day. Monday to Friday, then the weekend was free for him to spend as he pleased, occasionally one subject would run into the next day, but they typically lasted one day per subject, so long as he paced himself correctly.

He would spend eight hours at the examination centre writing his papers and doing anything else that needed to be done. Such as research projects or recordings and would collapse back at the cottage at around six at night.

He would be up revising until the later hours of the day, pausing only to eat and shower and then finally sleep.

When the final paper was finished, Koschei sighed in relief.

He just hoped his results were good.

_One, two, three, four._

Hawaii was hot.

The group of six spent one and a half months at the tropical island, relaxing and having fun.

Harry enjoyed the trips up to the active volcano and celebrated that fact by throwing Sirius's cup of coffee into it.

"A sacrifice! _To the education gods_!" he joked.

Sirius grumbled and walked back to the tour bus they'd been on with a few other families. His grumbling only grew louder when he heard the scattered chuckles.

Sirius's latest attempt at retribution involved taking the tobacco mixture out of his cigarettes, mixing chilli flakes into it, then putting it back into the cigarettes.

Koschei smoked it while staring the man dead in the eyes.

_One, two, three, four._

About halfway into their holiday, the Doctor made an appearance.

They were in a mud bath at the time, so Harry threw a mud ball at him.

A full-on mud ball war ended up happening, Hermione and her parents on one team, Sirius and Remus on a second and Koschei and Theta on the third.

There were no winners, only mud.

He was glad they'd hired out the mud bath instead of going to a public one.

_One, two, three, four._

They got back to England with a week to spare, a normal thing for Koschei, but a very strange thing for Hermione.

"What if I'm not prepared enough?" she asked.

"Hermione, you are one of, if not the most prepared person that I know of."

She grinned at him and he helped her pack for school.

An hour later she was off to collect Crookshanks, her cat, from the cat sitter.

Artemis gave a hoot of what seemed to be laughter, as she'd just stayed in the cottage and left when she needed to hunt, able to provide for herself.

Harry wondered how hectic the following school year would end up.


	26. Chapter 26

Harry and Hermione were sat in a compartment reading. Crookshanks was lounging on the bench next to the witch and Artemis sleeping on the overhead racks.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Koschei could see her peering at his book's title in absolute confusion.

"Alright, I'll bite, is it written in circle inside too?"

Snorting, Harry turned the book so she could see the pages.

"Stop calling it _circle_, you know that's not what it's called."

"It might not be called circle, but that's exactly what it looks like to us _non-aliens_."

"Hey! I'm perfectly human, thank you!"

"Yeah, you are _now_."

Koschei pouted and turned back to his book, the two continued to pass the time by reading with some minor chatting.

He'd just gotten to a good part. The main character and their partner were about to bust open a drug cartel on Tethys, one of Saturn's moons, when the door was opened by a younger student.

"I was told to give this to Harry Potter?"

Koschei looked up, cigarette hanging out of the side of his mouth. He quickly plucked the paper from the girl's hand, ignoring the relief on her face as she scampered off. Quickly reading the note, He snorted and cast a quick _Incendio_ on it.

"What did it say?" Hermione asked once the paper had become a pile of ashes.

"_'Mister Potter, I would be delighted if you could join me in compartment C for some lunch. Sincerely, Professor H.E.J. Slughorn,'_ so an invitation to lunch from a new Professor."

"Shouldn't you go then? If it was a Professor?"

"No, Hermione, because he's not truly a Professor until the opening feast. As it stands, I'm comfortable where I'm sat, and I don't want to leave you alone."

"_Aww_," she cooed at him.

Harry continued to read, face tinted red in slight embarrassment.

_One, two, three, four._

Another year at Hogwarts began with another feast and more announcements.

"I introduce Professor Slughorn to our staff, where he will be taking over the potions classes," the headmaster spoke.

He was forced to pause in his speech as the student body cheered, once they were quiet, he spoke once more.

"This is because Professor Snape will be taking over the Defence Against the Dark Arts classes."

The entire hall was silent.

Then a large portion of the students groaned.

"This should be interesting," came the muttered voice of one of his housemates.

Koschei agreed.

_One, two, three, four._

Koschei had read and reread the book on _Animagus transformations_ that Sirius had gotten him for Christmas back in his third year, knowing that he didn't want to mess it up.

First, he would need to hold a single mandrake leaf in his mouth for an entire month, beginning and ending with the full moon visible.

While it would be easy to just spell his mouth shut for the month, he had to keep his mouth unsealed to speak and eat. This was mostly because Professor McGonagall, who was a registered Animagus, would most likely know what he's doing if his mouth was stuck shut for an entire month. Considering he didn't want to register, that was something he didn't want to happen.

He'd also have to temporarily quit smoking, as the smoke from the tobacco could and likely would contaminate the leaf and while he wasn't exactly happy about it, he decided there were far more benefits to becoming an Animagus, which overpowered the physical need to be smoking.

On the night of the second full moon, he needed to put a phial in the range of the moon's beams, spit the leaf into it, then add one of his hairs. A silver teaspoon of dew would be added, which needed to be _untouched by human feet and hasn't seen any sunlight._ It also required a chrysalis of a death's-head hawk moth.

Then once that was all done, the potion needed to be stored in a quiet, dark place, where it would remain until the next lightning storm.

During the period of waiting, between finishing making the potion and drinking it, Harry would need to speak an incantation with the tip of his wand over his heart at every sunrise and sunset without fail.

When there is a lightning storm, he would need to make his way to a secluded spot, Koschei would most likely use his trunk. He would then need to speak the incantation once more and drink the potion, where he would transform into his Animagus form for an hour then change back.

It was incredibly complicated, extremely ridiculous, and _very_ risky to do without someone around to help him with it.

But Harry wanted to surprise his family and wasn't _too_ afraid of messing it up-

He'd apparently had experience with being half-animal in the past and he'd managed to fix that-

So, here he was, in his dorm room, sticking a leaf in his mouth and charming it to remain stuck to the roof of his mouth.

_One, two, three, four._

_'Where is my jacket, Koschei?'_

Koschei glanced to the bedpost on the left next to where his head was positioned, where a jacket was hung.

_'Don't know.'_

_'Did you steal it?'_

He blushed slightly, remembering the fact he'd been using it to cuddle into at night, enjoying the smell.

_'No.'_

_'Please can I have it back.'_

It smelt just like_ him-_

_'I don't have it, but if it bothers you that much, I can give you one of my hoodies, or buy you a new jacket."_

_'Koschei, I swear.'_

He was not getting that jacket back.

It was _his._

_One, two, three, four._

Snape was a _surprisingly good_ Defence teacher.

Koschei thought he should have been doing this instead of teaching potions all these years.

The man seemed happier to teach this subject, calmer too.

Sure, it didn't stop the man from singling him out, or being a right git when it came to certain students. But he didn't go out of his way to make things up to give students detentions anymore.

On the other side of things, Slughorn's Potions lessons were very well presented.

He encouraged the students to do their best. He praised them when they did things right and gave the correct discipline when someone did something wrong. Or when someone tried to sabotage someone else's potion.

However, the man himself came off as rather _creepy._

So, Harry avoided him whenever he could get away with it.

All in all, the lessons were rather average this year.

He really hoped that throughout the year, his lessons and free time would remain average.


	27. Chapter 27

Time sped by and soon it was Halloween.

Harry was already dreading whatever incident would come up.

The Headmaster seemed insistent on talking to him that year, so far, he'd done a rather good job of avoiding talking to him. It was only a matter of time until the man found a reason for him to be called into his office.

Koschei could tell that his hand was _rotting,_ dead while he's alive.

It was quite horrifying actually.

Other than Dumbledore's insistence on attempting to talk to him, there didn't seem to be anything going wrong that day.

To Koschei, that just meant that the incident would most likely involve the annoying golden strings that he'd learnt to mostly ignore now.

An hour before the feast, his prediction proved to be right.

He was walking through the halls with Hermione when they turned a corner and Harry found himself accidentally walking straight into a very prominent string-

Honestly, the String was _huge _compared to most of the ones he'd seen before-

Not even five minutes later, he was running up the stairs, avoiding the vanishing steps with an alarmed looking Hermione hot on his heels.

He stopped at a seemingly blank wall and began pacing when a door appeared.

Inside was rubbish, a lot of it.

And a diadem_ radiating_ hatred.

"_Oh,_" Hermione's voice was barely a whisper.

They both stared at it.

"I think we might need to ask Sirius about this one."

_One, two, three, four._

_'Hey, crowns aren't supposed to radiate feelings of hatred, correct?'_

_'No, they aren't.'_

Koschei hummed and flipped through a book on advanced runes.

The runes Professor though he was good enough to take a mastery on the subject, a fact that would have made anyone else proud. But he wasn't anyone else and the fact just sent him into what Hermione had described to Madam Pomfrey as a _panic attack._

Which had netted him more therapy sessions.

It wasn't a panic attack per se, more that he'd just received a rather nasty reminder of his past life, or more accurately, a half-formed, blurred out thought about education, which was promptly followed by a fit of very gleeful anger, reminding him of the echoing madness of his past.

_'What have you come across now?'_

_'Some cursed object in the middle of a school full of children. I'm going to be bringing it back to Sirius and Remus' cottage for the winter holidays if you want to have a poke at it.'_

_'I might just do that.'_

_One, two, three, four._

It was two weeks before the winter holidays when it happened.

He'd successfully kept the damned leaf in his mouth for a month on his second attempt, October to November instead of the September to October. He'd accidentally swallowed it on his first attempt.

He'd done the potion correctly and had stored it in a box in his trunk, quiet and dark. He'd made sure to get up before the sunrise to speak the incantation and made sure to do the same during the sunset every single day since.

Now there was a lightning storm going on outside.

He'd double-checked the instructions in his book. He couldn't be in somewhere the weather couldn't affect, which meant his original plan of taking the potion in his trunk wouldn't be possible. So, he'd looked around for an abandoned area that he could take it in.

He gathered his potion from his trunk, slipped his invisibility cloak on and wondered out of Ravenclaw tower. It was a short walk to the abandoned, but still intact southern wing of the castle.

There was a tower that looked like it hadn't been used in quite a few years, it was out of the way of paintings, ghosts, and people, and it was in the view of the storm.

Once in the tower, he slipped off his cloak, resting it on the dusty sofa that sat in the corner, took out his wand, pointed it over his heart and spoke.

"_Amato Animo Animato Animagus._"

Once he'd spoken the words, the room seemed to grow heavy with the electricity from the storm outside.

Koschei drank the potion and dropped to the ground in pain.

It seemed to last for hours, the electrical current in the room growing heavier around him, putting pressure on his_ entire being._

Then it stopped.

It took him a while to recover from the pain, as he lay there, prone on the ground, his clothes scattered around him in a heap, Harry noticed one major thing.

Everything was larger than he was.

He'd_ successfully done it._

_One, two, three, four._

A week before the holidays, he'd been given an invitation to a party.

By Professor Slughorn.

Normally, Koschei would try to be polite with turning down an invitation like this. However, he was still getting used to suddenly having his senses being, well, _sensitive._

His eyesight had improved greatly, he'd never needed glasses, but now he very much doubted he _ever_ would. Being able to see in the dark was interesting, while he'd been able to do that in his past life, it was very much _not_ a human thing. His hearing had improved, as had his sense of smell.

So, with everything being _louder_ and _clearer, brighter_ and more _vibrant_, and everything smelling just that bit_ sharper._ Well, it was no wonder he was having some issues.

This, mixed with the fact that for the past few weeks he'd been _itching_ to just have a smoke or two, and had only just been able to resume his smoking meant that he was in a rather bad mood.

"No, I do not want to go to your damned party. I'd much rather eat a box of _chalk_ dipped in _Marmite_ than mingle with the _prissy pure-blooded pansies._ All they want to talk about is how _big their bank is_, blood purity _bullshit_ and other things I'd rather not talk about!" He took a breath in and continued, "For another thing, the way you talk about people is quite frankly _disturbing._ We are people, not objects to be stored on a shelf. I don't like _you,_ I don't like _purebloods,_ hell I do not like _people._ There are only _six_ people I will_ willingly_ be in the presence of. One's my _godfather,_ one's my _honorary uncle,_ one's my _adoptive sister,_ two are the _parents of my sister_ and the other one is my_ previous significant other_!"

With that, he turned around and left the potions classroom.

_One, two, three, four._

It was during that night when Harry lay on his bed thinking.

He'd called Theta his previous significant other.

While that wasn't wrong, Koschei felt a dull ache spread through his chest at the thought.

_Sadness, longing._

He looked towards the jacket that he'd nicked from the Doctor, remembering the warm fuzzy feelings he'd received when smelling it.

He knew he still had feelings for Theta, had admitted it, if only to himself, many times prior, but he'd never really said anything about it out loud.

He didn't know how the Doctor felt about him, did he pity him? Was he angry over what he'd done, but was just playing along, waiting for him to revert to his prior state of being so that he could take him down once and for all?

Did he like Koschei, as he liked him?

Koschei rolled onto his stomach and screamed his frustrations into his pillow.

"_Shut up_," came a muffled complaint from his roommate.

_One, two, three, four._

The winter holidays started, as always, with chaos.

This time in the form of a cursed diadem.

"This is a Horcrux," stated Sirius.

Sirius grew up in a dark family, he'd read his books and knew his stuff.

"What's a Horcrux?" questioned Hermione.

"An item that contains a fragment of a witch or wizard's soul. It is created by committing cold-blooded murder and essentially makes the person immortal until they're found and destroyed."

Harry sat up straight at hearing this, twirling an unlit cigarette between his fingers.

"Can we use this to find the others?" He questioned.

"_Others_?" Remus asked in alarm.

"I_ saw_, he made _seven_. Two, _possibly-maybe_ three, are gone now."

The four others in the room stared at him.

"Who's _'he'_?" asked the Doctor.

"Voldemort."

With that one word, the winter holidays became a research project into some of the foulest magics of the current time.


	28. Chapter 28

Christmas day was a very much needed break from the research. Sirius and Remus had explained to Scott and Emily just what had been found and what they were doing. While they were alarmed, they were proud of them for taking it to adults who knew what they were doing and researching a way to deal with the problem safely.

As with every year, they shuffled their way to the Grangers house, Koschei dragging the Doctor along, despite his protests.

Presents were exchanged, clothes and books were the main focus of the gifts that he received. He'd gotten everyone their traditional snacks, books, and other assorted items.

Koschei would never admit out loud that he'd paid extra attention to how Theta's eyes had _lit up_ when he'd passed him his gift. He also would not admit that he'd knitted the blanket by himself.

That didn't stop the bastard from looking at him with his_ knowing smile,_ however.

Then the food was eaten, Sirius and Remus got drunk, to the amusement of everyone else. Remus admitted to getting someone named_ Tonks,_ who, according to Sirius, was his cousin, pregnant.

It was much later into the evening when Harry decided to show off his new trick. He did this by changing into his Animagus form, leaving a pile of clothes where he'd stood. Then jumping onto Sirius' shoulders while he wasn't looking, toppling the drunk man to the floor.

"Look Moony!" he slurred from the carpet, "'arry's gone and become Minnie!"

On top of the drunken Sirius sat a large black cat with long fur and ear tufts, he had blue eyes. On his chest was a large jagged white mark stretching from one side to the other, almost in a mockery of a thick knife wound. It looked almost as if someone had tried and failed to remove the top part of his chest from the bottom. There were also a few darker spots scattered across his back, along with tear marks running down his cheeks, these markings were rather hard to see but with the right lighting could be seen very easily, they were there, nonetheless.

Getting off of the man, he made his way over to the Doctor and jumped onto his lap, laying over it and completely swamping him.

The Doctor reached out a finger and traced it over the white mark.

"_This was where you-_"

He bumped his head against him, effectively shutting him up and letting him know that he was still there, he wasn't planning on leaving anytime soon.

He swallowed and nodded, hugging him to his chest.

Koschei could hear his dual hearts beating and breathed in his scent, focusing on committing it to memory.

Not even ten minutes later, Sirius, as Padfoot, decided to jump up onto his lap too, effectively ruining the moment.

Across the room, Hermione was talking to her parents.

"The Animagus transformation is risky without anyone to supervise you. I'm more annoyed that he didn't let me know that he would be attempting it so that I could make sure he was okay, but what's done is done."

"So, do you know what type of cat he is? He is quite big," questioned Emily.

Scott sat off to the side muttering about boys transforming into cats and men becoming dogs.

"Well, he seems more slender built than most, but there is no doubt that he's a Maine Coon."

_One, two, three, four._

It was through some trial and error, that on the last day of the holidays they figured out a way to find the other Horcruxes. They found out that while holding the Horcrux, Harry could reach out to the strings and use them to see where the others were.

Using this method, he saw quite a few objects.

A_ locket_ in number twelve Grimmauld Place, Sirius swore but retrieved it as soon as he mentioned the house.

A _cup_ in the vault of Bellatrix Lestrange. Sirius swore again but said that he could, as the head of the house of Black, get into said vault because Bellatrix was his cousin. As she was still technically a Black and that since the other Lestranges were in prison, he could appeal to remove items from the vault.

A_ snake_, alone in Little Hangleton, which would be easy to get to and kill.

A_ stone_, although this one was a lot weaker than the other strings and seemed to no longer contain the soul shard, this one was with Professor Dumbledore.

Sirius and Remus mentioned that they would try to get the items while they were at school, which they'd destroy during the summer.

Koschei had told them to leave the snake alone. He'd seen a large string; Voldemort would be coming back somehow, and the snake would lead them right to him, and that if the snake were gone, he'd realise something was wrong.

They'd been unhappy with this decision but agreed that it was the best choice they had at that moment.

So, the two teenagers left back to school, knowing that six of the Horcruxes were accounted for.

_One, two, three, four._

It hadn't even been a week before the headmaster found something that he could call him to his office for.

"Harry my boy, please have a seat," he motioned to a single seated sofa in front of his desk.

He took the offered seat and looked around the room.

There were little trinkets scattered around, and the Phoenix from his second year on a perch, his head stuck under his wing.

"Lemon drop?" he offered him.

"No, thank you," Koschei spoke, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a cigarette, ignoring the headmaster's disapproving stare as he lit it.

He'd been in the room once before, after the fiasco of his second year. He had been tired and recently revived from the dead at that time, so he'd not really looked at anything.

"I'd like to show you a few things about Voldemort, something to help you defeat him."

Koschei became alert at that.

One, he already knew about his little life trinkets, he knew the man did too, he had one on his decaying hand after all.

Two, he'd said that as though _he_ was the only person who could deal with the man.

Three, why would he need to know things_ about him_ to _defeat him._

Koschei decided to throw him off his game.

"I am aware of his Horcruxes, Professor."

He was awarded with the sight of him choking on some tea.

"And how _pray tell,_ Mister Potter, would you know of this?"

"I_ saw_ one, it gave me a bad feeling, I took it to Sirius, he told me what it was. We spent all winter researching how to use it to find the rest of his Horcruxes, then how to safely get rid of them."

"I feel as though you are leaving something out, or perhaps I'm not understanding."

"I_ saw_ it, Professor. Not with my eyes, but with my_ mind._ You do know what a seer is,_ correct_?"

"If you're a seer, Mister Potter, I feel as though I must ask why you didn't take divination?"

"Because I don't _want_ to be a seer, and the divination teacher isn't good. One true vision in over ten years? Not a very good seer, is she?"

Dumbledore sighed and buried his face in his hands.

"On another note, your arm is decaying."

"It is."

"Touch something with a nasty curse, did you?"

"Yes."

"The curse is gone now, as is the soul fragment. All that is left is an echo."

"Do you know what the other Horcruxes are?" he asked him, changing the subject.

"I do."

"What are they, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Cup, Locket, Diadem, Snake, Ring, Diary, and Myself."

Harry shifted so he was sat sideways in the chair, legs dangling over one arm while propping himself up with the other.

"You're aware that you're a Horcrux?" he questioned, looking up at him.

"Don't worry, it's_ gone_ now, I mean, I_ did die_ back in my second year."

"You _died,_ Mister Potter?" he seemed panicked now.

"Yes, but I am_ very good_ at not staying that way."

The headmaster groaned.

Koschei found it amusing.

_One, two, three, four._

Harry's prediction that Voldemort would come back turned out to be true.

The first main attack had been a breakout at Azkaban.

The second was an invasion into the school through a vanishing cabinet, thanks to Malfoy.

Koschei and Hermione had managed to get caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Just moments before, the Headmaster had asked him to duel him. Koschei had noticed he'd been holding back, a lot, but he'd disarmed him, which had caused him to be pleased for some unknown reason.

So here they were, huddled under his invisibility cloak in the astronomy tower, the_ Lupus_ constellation visible overhead.

He cast a quick silencing charm over the two of them, not wanting attention to be drawn to them.

Then they watched in horror and, in Koschei's case, _slight fascination,_ as Professor Snape _murdered_ Professor Dumbledore, who was begging for something.

Koschei had to physically restrain Hermione from running out into the crowd of Death Eaters when it happened.

They waited for half an hour until they were gone, Harry holding Hermione's hand as she cried.

They didn't know him, not personally, but he was their headmaster, he was a bit odd, but he was there in the hall eating food with them every day.

Now he was _gone._

They were found by Professor McGonagall, who they told what they witnessed. Dumbledore's body was moved to the great hall, where they sat and grieved with the rest of the students.

The remaining time of the school year was quiet and subdued.

It was a very silent train ride back to London.

But Koschei and Hermione had_ planning_ to do.


	29. Chapter 29

Funerals were a rather morbid affair. The moods of the people who stood around the casket could and would affect a person, causing them to be depressed also.

Harry could understand going to the funeral of a friend or a loved one, but not a person that you barely knew in passing.

Which was why he'd been surprised when he'd received an invitation to attend the funeral of one Albus Dumbledore.

The fact that he'd been left something in his will had also taken him by surprise.

As the man's body was lowered into the ground, he ran his finger across the smooth surface of the stone.

He pretended he didn't feel the lingering promise of forever with the dark stone. He ignored it, the feeling as though something big would be happening soon, one that was linked with this small stone.

He watched as the coffin was buried, before turning and walking towards Sirius, Remus, and Hermione, who had all been stood at the edge of the field.

"Let's go."

_One, two, three, four._

An explosion rocked the cottage, causing the five occupants of the living room to look up from the items and papers scattered on the table.

So far, they hadn't been able to destroy any of the Horcruxes, as they didn't have any Basilisk venom. Koschei's Basilisk head had been defanged when he'd been allowed to keep it, and none of them wanted to risk being caught using Fiendfyre.

So Koschei and the Doctor had been working on something that worked like Basilisk venom, using Harry's lab, to destroy the Horcruxes.

Hence the explosion.

A door opened from down the hallway, a billow of smoke rushing out, as Koschei quickly walked towards the window, where he opened it to let the fumes leave.

He stood by the opened window for a moment, breathing in the fresh air. He turned around, pulling off his lab coat and making his way into the living room.

"Any luck?" questioned Scott.

"Not yet" Koschei spoke, shaking his head, "I believe we used a _bit_ too much Phosphorus."

"I see."

Harry sighed and draped himself over a sofa, eyes flickering shut for a moment, listening to the group's chattering.

A minute passed and the sound of the lab door shutting was heard.

Koschei opened his eyes as he felt someone pick his head up, the sofa dipped and his head was placed back down, this time onto the Doctors lap.

He grinned up at him, before moving closer and practically curling up on his lap.

"I think," the Doctor began, and Harry almost purred at the rumbling feeling that his voice caused in his body. "That the next solution we make should work as intended."

Koschei felt Theta's hand gently stroking his hair, and _oh,_ he was actually purring now, _interesting._

There was complete silence for a moment, other than Koschei's purring.

They all pretended that the Doctor was not petting Harry and that Koschei was not purring, and goodness wasn't that weird to see. It felt like they were intruding on a very private moment, yet neither of them appeared bothered in the slightest.

After a minute or two, Sirius gave an awkward cough and spoke, "So, just a few more days and we can end this nightmare?"

"Seems like it," Harry agreed with a rumble.

_One, two, three, four._

"You know, it's kind of cute that you can purr," Hermione mentioned one morning.

The two were sat at the dining room table, cereal in their bowls and a stack of books between them.

Sirius sat on the other side of the table, and on the opposite side of the dining room, at a second table, they'd bought in because they'd needed the space, what with having six to seven people at once, sat Remus, Scott, and Emily.

The Doctor had gone out to get the extra chemicals they needed to attempt the solution again, which was why the chair next to him was empty.

He'd looked at it once, ready to say something to him before he'd remembered that he'd gone out. He'd immediately been bombarded with knowing looks from around the room after that.

"It is?" he questioned back to her while turning a page in his notebook.

It held all the equations that Koschei and Theta had worked out for their solution, how much of everything was needed. He was currently making sure that they hadn't somehow messed up the measurements.

"It really is, I mean, you may not have noticed it, Harry, but last night wasn't the first time you've purred like that."

Koschei raised an eyebrow at that.

"I mean," Hermione waved her spoon about, "Whenever you're around the Doctor, you seem to get so happy that you start purring. Until last night it had been very quiet and we all barely noticed it, but, well."

He turned and stared at his cereal, willing the blush that he knew was staining his cheeks away.

"Oh, I just think it's cute," she stated.

"It really _is,"_ Remus piped up from the other table, reminding Koschei that it wasn't just the two of them talking alone.

Koschei's blush deepened and chuckles were heard from around the room.

_One, two, three, four._

"So, what's this stuff made of again?" questioned Emily as she poked the side of the beaker with a pen.

Harry quickly pulled her hand away from the container with the eerily glowing blue liquid.

"It's a lot of acids," he began, "I've forgotten what a good half of them are called, but just know it's _not_ _nice, _probably rather unstable, too._"_

The seven of them stood around the back-left worktop of Koschei's lab.

There were many cluttered work surfaces, with beakers and chemicals that the two had been using laying about. The chemical storage cupboard was half-open, where they'd forgotten to close it. Half of the room was covered in burn marks from where the chemical reactions had become unstable and blown up, causing small fires. There was also a small pile of used fire extinguishers.

"Alright then, let's see if this works."

Sirius placed the locket on the counter, and Harry guided the five back to a safe distance as the Doctor poured some of the solution onto it.

They stood there for a few minutes, waiting for something to happen.

Nothing did.

Koschei sighed, and walked over to the chemical storage, pulling the door open fully.

"Do you think we need more or less acids? Perhaps an alkaline?" he asked while looking through the different chemicals that were left.

"I'm not sure, I cou-"

A high-pitched screaming began from where the locket had been, and Harry turned to stare in surprise.

The locket was bubbling, creating a black goo where it had been placed. A wisp of a dark smoke began pouring out but seemed to set on fire before it could go anywhere.

All at once, the locket stopped bubbling and the screaming cut off.

They all stared in shock.

_"Well, I think it works."_


	30. Chapter 30

A large cat lay on the windowsill, looking out of the cosy cottage that sat on the moors. Thick fur pressed against the windows, where dappled sunlight streamed through.

Blue eyes peered outside, watching for anyone who came along.

Trees lined up against a dark hedge that lined the property, and beyond that, rocky, green fields stretched on as far as the feline could see. A wood chip path led up from a gate that parted the hedges to the door of the building and flowers were scattered around haphazardly.

The cat's head perked up as he spotted someone walking to the door, revealing a blue bandanna with an odd-looking key used in place of a tag. Stretching, the feline jumped down from his perch and morphed into a young man.

Koschei stretched a bit more as he walked to the front door, opening it for Remus.

"Afternoon, Harry," he greeted.

"Everyone's in the living room, I decided to wait for you."

"And by that you mean sunbathed, right?"

"_Maybe,_" he drawled, walking into the room where everyone was gathered, he made himself comfortable next to the Doctor.

"So, what information have you managed to gather, Remus?" questioned Scott.

"Word from the packs nearby say that _He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named_ has once again put a taboo on his name."

"_Coward,_" Koschei muttered from his seat, purposefully ignoring Theta who rolled his eyes at his comment.

"Anything else?" Hermione asked from where she was sandwiched between her parents.

"Yes, apparently, _You-Know-Who_ is attempting to find a way to lure Harry to the Department of Mysteries."

"Why?" asked the Doctor, as he pushed Koschei's feet away from where he was attempting to stick them on his lap.

"Something about the Hall of Prophecy, I didn't ask much else," he admitted.

They all sat in silence for a minute longer, Koschei deciding to give up on getting his feet in the Doctor's lap. Instead, he moved and draped his entire body over his lap, smirking up at him when he rolled his eyes again.

"Could we use this to our advantage?" Koschei idly wondered, watching as the golden strings danced in his vision.

_One, two, three, four._

It took them a while, but with the packs that Remus knew that were connected with the Death Eaters. A few carefully placed words to said packs and the group managed to get Voldemort's forces to decide on a time.

They had gotten this confirmation of when they should go through the newspapers and the radio, and with Koschei's strings.

The final Horcrux was a snake, which Koschei recognised through his strings as the snake that he'd sent a _Bombarda_ at. It was now disfigured from the spell, it's face seeming like it had been split into three, before being sewn back together and healing wrong.

The snake would be left at the base of the Death Eaters, unguarded. All while a group went with Voldemort to the Department of Mysteries to face off against Harry, they were obviously confident that they would win this confrontation.

Remus, along with Scott and Emily went to go deal with it, using the solution that they'd come up with.

Scott and Emily originally wanted their daughter to come with them. After a while of arguing and stating that she didn't want to leave Harry alone, they caved, warning her to be extra careful _or else._

So, with those three heading off to deal with the final Horcrux, the other four headed to the Department of Mysteries.

Sirius, Hermione, Koschei, and the Doctor, all arrived at the building late at night, with no-one around to see. Koschei quickly threw his invisibility cloak around them, the fabric just barely covering them all.

They quickly made their way to the Hall of Prophecy, where they spotted the first sign of Death Eaters.

Two Death Eaters were stood in shadowy alcoves, hidden out of sight for all but those who are looking for them.

Tapping Hermione and Sirius on their shoulder, Koschei removed the cloak from them all, stowing it in his pocket while pulling out his wand.

_"Stupefy!"_

_"Bombarda!"_

_"Sectumsempra!"_

_"Diffindo!"_

Spells clashed in a flurry of colour.

_One, two, three, four._

Remus, Scott, and Emily walked up to a rather creepy looking and seemingly abandoned mansion in the middle of an old, and very small town.

"Now remember, just because there are no Death Eaters inside the building, doesn't mean the building is safe," Remus began.

"Yes, we remember, hexes, curses, and other lovely traps, right?" Emily questioned.

"Correct, now, shall we?"

Scott nodded, and Remus took the lead, the other two falling in line behind him.

Emily carried the acidic liquid that Koschei and the Doctor had created. She was being extra careful that the stopper didn't come undone, and that she didn't jostle it too much, just in case it decided to_ explode in her hands._

The three of them walked through the spacious house, being extra careful to not trip any sort of traps or alarms, so far, they'd found five.

They crept along yet another hallway before Remus stopped them in their tracks.

_"Shh,_ do you hear that?" he muttered.

Scott and Emily shared a look while straining to hear anything.

Nothing.

"No, Remus, are you su-"

A flash of green lunged at them, but Remus's hand shot out, catching it mid-leap. He quickly moved his other hand to grab it just below the head, so that the snake couldn't reach around to bite anyone.

_"Quickly now,"_ he spoke, and Emily didn't need any more encouragement, unstopping the beaker and pouring the solution onto the snake.

For a few moments nothing happened, but just like the locket, the snake began bubbling and screaming.

After an entire ten minutes, it stopped, and Remus dropped the snake to the ground, where it no longer moved.

"Well," Scott began, "I suppose we should get out of here, hey?"


	31. Chapter 31

A battle began in the Hall of Prophecy, glass breaking this way and that, as spells clashed and rebounded.

The Aurors had come as soon as word had been spread that the hall had been broken into, quickly getting into action when they spotted the Death Eaters.

Koschei had personally made sure that the prophecy that was supposedly about himself had been smashed to dust. He thought it looked almost like_ snow._

The sight of the orb being obliterated had enraged Voldemort quite a lot. This led to Koschei being chased down the corridor of the Department of Mysteries, the Doctor, Hermione, and Sirius following.

Seeing their leader chasing after Koschei, the Death Eaters had followed, with Aurors chasing them.

They ended in a room, a dead-end, for all but a dark archway.

"Nowhere to run now, _Potter,_" spat Voldemort.

He was admittedly tall, but he made a rather horrifying sight, Koschei was reminded of the baby hybrid from his kidnapping back in his fourth year.

The man pointed his wand at Koschei's forehead.

_"Avad-"_

_"Stupefy!"_ cried Hermione.

_"Diffindo!"_ Sirius.

The spells distracted Voldemort, and he turned to see who dared to interrupt him.

Koschei took this chance to slip over to where the Doctor was crouched. He was using his screwdriver, scanning for anything that could _possibly_ help in this situation.

Koschei stood there for a moment, watching the absolute chaos, before reaching out to touch one of the strings.

A moment later, Koschei knew what to do.

"Hey, Theta?"

_"Yes?"_ he looked up from his scanning, and Koschei pulled his head towards him, pressing a firm kiss to his lips, he savoured it for a moment, before pulling away, leaving Theta in momentary shock.

Which gave Koschei all the time he needed.

With Voldemort distracted by Hermione and Sirius. Both of whom were in turn distracted by keeping the man occupied. The Doctor also distracted from his kiss.

There was no-one to stop him as he tackled Voldemort _through the veil._

They all watched in stunned silence as Koschei disappeared through what they knew as the veil of death.

_"Harry!"_

_"Koschei!"_

The sounds of the Death Eaters and the Aurors fighting in the background slowly grew to a halt as the Death Eaters realised that their leader was gone, some doubled their efforts in a panic, and some gave up entirely.

But for Hermione, Sirius, and the Doctor, all they could focus on was the veil.

Fabric flickered around the dark stone and all that was left of Koschei was_ silence._

_"No."_


End file.
